Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by Stephens Investment Management Group LLC

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 680,837 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,777 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned 0.48% of Ciena worth $41,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 643.1% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,192 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 8,049 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 37,133.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,732 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,285,000 after buying an additional 4,534 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total transaction of $28,899.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,601,538.26. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,747,647. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.08.

Ciena Stock Up 2.0%

CIEN stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $84.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,533,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,156,029. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $44.89 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.99, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.83.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company's Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.