Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. significantly increased its position in Ciena Corporation by 72.1%, owning 131,879 shares worth approximately $7.97 million at the end of the recent quarter.
• Several institutional investors also expanded their stakes in Ciena, highlighting strong interest in the company, with a reported 91.99% ownership by institutional investors overall.
• Ciena's recent earnings report revealed that the company missed earnings expectations with $0.42 EPS against a consensus of $0.50, despite a revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 72.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 131,879 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 55,237 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Ciena worth $7,969,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its position in Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Ciena by 66.7% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in Ciena by 9,162.5% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the firm'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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,469 shares of company stock valued at $2,817,891 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $93.42 on Tuesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $82.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.20. The company has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.75, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $48.36 and a 12-month high of $101.44.

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

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.