Front Street Capital Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Front Street Capital Management initiated a Ciena position by purchasing 47,975 shares valued at approximately $23.5 million, making Ciena about 2.7% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 91.99% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a positive view of Ciena, with 14 Buy ratings and six Holds, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $527.78.
• Ciena shares opened at $371.64 after declining 6.1%, despite the company reporting quarterly revenue of $1.57 billion and earnings of $1.64 per share, both above analyst expectations; revenue increased 39.5% year over year.

Front Street Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 47,975 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $23,535,000. Ciena makes up approximately 2.7% of Front Street Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Ciena by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,193,300,000 after purchasing an additional 750,128 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ciena by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Ciena by 10.4% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 30,114.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $671,365,000 after buying an additional 2,861,176 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 4,995 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $430.72, for a total transaction of $2,151,446.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 107,519 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,310,583.68. This represents a 4.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total transaction of $739,599.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This represents a 3.57% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,422 shares of company stock worth $11,638,117. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup upped their price target on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $720.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 5th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $527.78.

Ciena Trading Down 6.1%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $371.64 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $52.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.88 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $418.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $433.01. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $89.41 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

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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