Comerica Bank Reduces Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Comerica Bank reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation by 6.4%, selling 3,211 shares and now owning 46,957 shares valued at approximately $2.84 million.
• Despite the sell-off, other institutional investors increased their stakes in Ciena during the first quarter, with notable increases from Bessemer Group and MassMutual Private Wealth.
• Ciena's recent quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $0.42, missing the consensus estimate, while revenue grew 23.6% year-over-year to $1.13 billion.

Comerica Bank reduced its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,957 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 3,211 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Ciena were worth $2,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CIEN. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $183,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 971.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $61,891,000 after purchasing an additional 661,630 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,238,284 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $105,019,000 after purchasing an additional 257,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $12,973,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $17.39 on Thursday, reaching $112.21. 8,423,173 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,309,923. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $122.00. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.86 billion, a PE ratio of 155.95, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.16.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.54.

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.