Hanseatic Management Services Inc. Sells 2,826 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Hanseatic Management Services cut its Ciena stake by 71.2% in the third quarter, selling 2,826 shares and retaining 1,144 shares valued at approximately $402,000.
• Institutional investors hold 91.99% of Ciena’s outstanding stock, with several funds increasing their positions during the quarter.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $485.93. Ciena also reported quarterly EPS of $2.11 and revenue of $1.67 billion, exceeding estimates and marking 37% year-over-year revenue growth.

Hanseatic Management Services Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 71.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,144 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 2,826 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 217.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 352 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board increased its stake in Ciena by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board now owns 5,737 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,018,000 after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares in the last quarter. M & L Capital Management Ltd increased its stake in Ciena by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. M & L Capital Management Ltd now owns 100,580 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $35,386,000 after purchasing an additional 37,650 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Ciena by 2.6% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 61,391 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $21,599,000 after buying an additional 1,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 7.1% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 4,433 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,560,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ciena from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $550.00 target price (down from $660.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley restated a "positive" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore raised Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, September 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $485.93.

Ciena Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $363.58 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $168.22 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's 50 day moving average is $365.82 and its 200 day moving average is $400.93.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Ciena's revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total transaction of $933,794.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 57,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,383,643.72. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.02, for a total transaction of $1,027,355.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 225,455 shares in the company, valued at $78,462,849.10. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,014 shares of company stock worth $13,457,571. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation NYSE: CIEN is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.

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