Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Virtu Financial LLC

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC significantly reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation by 86.6%, selling a total of 31,996 shares and leaving them with 4,934 shares worth approximately $298,000.
• Ciena reported $0.42 earnings per share, falling short of the expected $0.50, but posted a revenue of $1.13 billion, surpassing the analyst estimate of $1.09 billion.
• Institutional investors own 91.99% of Ciena's stock, indicating strong institutional confidence in the company's future growth potential.

Virtu Financial LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 86.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,934 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 31,996 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 25,322 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Ciena by 72.1% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 131,879 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $7,969,000 after acquiring an additional 55,237 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Ciena by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 328,595 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $19,857,000 after buying an additional 55,402 shares during the period. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $545,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $3.3450 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $88.5850. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,593,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,271,625. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 123.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $76.59.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%.The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. Ciena has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.54, for a total transaction of $615,672.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 311,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,244,586.78. This represents a 2.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total value of $31,829.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. This represents a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,694,781. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.