Hsbc Holdings PLC Boosts Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Ciena Corporation by 153.2%, acquiring an additional 29,758 shares, bringing its total to 49,184 shares valued at approximately $2.9 million.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Ciena with an average target price of $85.54, with two analysts giving a Strong Buy rating and nine assigning Buy ratings.
• Insider transactions include CEO Gary B. Smith selling 6,800 shares at an average price of $90.54, resulting in a total sale value of $615,672.

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 153.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,184 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 29,758 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $2,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 218.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 2,573 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 21,114 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,791,000 after acquiring an additional 3,399 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $274,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 33,382 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,831,000 after acquiring an additional 12,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $359,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group boosted 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.69.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN traded down $4.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $93.85. The company had a trading volume of 2,230,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,676,162. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The stock has a market cap of $13.27 billion, a PE ratio of 130.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.79.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Ciena has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total transaction of $31,829.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,268 shares in the company, valued at $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,694,781 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena 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.