Inspire Investing LLC Sells 3,164 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation by 16.9%, selling 3,164 shares during the second quarter and retaining 15,555 shares valued at approximately $1,265,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P., significantly increased their positions in Ciena, with Vaughan Nelson boosting its stake by 375.4% to own 1,235,696 shares worth about $100 million.
• Equities analysts have raised their price targets for Ciena, with estimates now ranging from $130.23 to as high as $175.00, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts.

Inspire Investing LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 16.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,555 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 3,164 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $70,065,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 375.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $100,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,792 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,221,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1,883.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 787,266 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $64,028,000 after acquiring an additional 747,576 shares during the period. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,973,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $130.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 45,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,336,431. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of CIEN opened at $156.04 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $118.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.56. The company has a market capitalization of $22.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $165.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.