Impax Asset Management Group plc Cuts Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Impax Asset Management cut its stake in Ciena by 71.7% in Q4, selling 79,000 shares and leaving 31,239 shares valued at $7.306 million.
• Company insiders have been selling recently — SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares (~$9.02M) and CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares (~$1.23M) on April 1 under pre-arranged Rule 10b5‑1 plans, with insiders offloading 42,974 shares (~$16.6M) over the past three months.
• Ciena beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.35 vs. $1.17; revenue +33.1% YoY), has seen several analyst price-target increases (Bank of America to $550) and carries a consensus rating of Moderate Buy despite a high trailing P/E (~331) and the stock trading near its 52‑week high.

Impax Asset Management Group plc lowered its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 71.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,239 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 79,000 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Ciena were worth $7,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Ciena by 139.6% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $13,419,000 after buying an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 0.9%

CIEN stock opened at $520.34 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $399.49 and a 200 day moving average of $280.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.58 billion, a PE ratio of 331.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. 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 $63.99 and a 52 week high of $527.86.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Ciena's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 281,365 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. The trade was a 1.04% 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. Insiders sold 42,974 shares of company stock worth $16,615,505 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.59.

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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