North Growth Management Ltd. Decreases Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

North Growth Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 429,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 29,000 shares during the quarter. Ciena accounts for about 5.5% of North Growth Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. North Growth Management Ltd. owned 0.30% of Ciena worth $25,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $263,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Ciena by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,794 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Ciena by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,469 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $3.94 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,941,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,080,833. The company has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 110.25, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.12. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $44.89 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $73.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total value of $27,534.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,637,150.11. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 49,638 shares of company stock worth $3,345,797. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Barclays set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.15.

Ciena Company 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.