Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 331,394 Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 2.2% in Q1, now owning approximately 10.54% of the company with a value near $905.6 million.
• Multiple analysts have changed their ratings on Ciena, with JPMorgan raising its target price from $83.00 to $105.00 and several firms adjusting their ratings to "buy" or "strong buy."
• Ciena reported earnings of $0.42 per share for the last quarter, missing estimates, but its revenue increased by 23.6% year-over-year to $1.13 billion.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,985,246 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 331,394 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.54% of Ciena worth $905,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $10,458,000. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $2,882,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,868 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $439,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Ciena by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,978 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $0.53 on Friday, hitting $90.89. 1,478,828 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,621,580. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.85 billion, a PE ratio of 126.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $101.44. The firm's 50 day moving average is $83.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.65.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total transaction of $559,164.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,770,552.11. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,819 shares of company stock worth $2,047,280. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.54.

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.