Essex Financial Services Inc. Invests $372,000 in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Essex Financial Services Inc. opened a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter, buying 1,590 shares valued at about $372,000.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with 91.99% of Ciena’s stock held by hedge funds and other institutions, and several other firms also increased their stakes.
• Wall Street sentiment is upbeat: analysts have issued mostly Buy ratings, and Ciena’s consensus price target stands at $420.39, while recent earnings beat expectations on both EPS and revenue.

Essex Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,590 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 710 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Ciena by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,055 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,549 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,772 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $695,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ciena from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $420.39.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $628.98 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $503.80 and a 200 day moving average of $345.22. The stock has a market cap of $88.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 400.63 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $70.77 and a 52-week high of $629.61.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.The business's revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.92, for a total transaction of $1,670,595.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 269,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $152,547,697.44. The trade was a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total value of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,074,931.65. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 44,174 shares of company stock valued at $19,502,359 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation NYSE: CIEN is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena's product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.

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