Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Acquires New Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Ciena, buying 5,264 shares valued at about $1.23 million.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $1.35 per share and revenue of $1.43 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations; revenue rose 33.1% from a year ago.
• Analysts remain largely bullish on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $398.83, while several firms recently raised their targets.

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,264 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Ciena by 139.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE CIEN opened at $583.65 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $70.77 and a 1-year high of $599.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $82.53 billion, a PE ratio of 371.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $478.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $328.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. Ciena's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 68 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $398.83.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CIEN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.