Legal & General Group Plc Boosts Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Ciena by 86.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 236,568 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 510,449 shares worth about $119.4 million.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.35 topping estimates and revenue of $1.43 billion, up 33.1% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on the stock, with several firms raising price targets and MarketBeat showing a Moderate Buy consensus; however, insiders have also sold shares recently, including CEO Gary B. Smith and SVP Brodie Gage.

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 86.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 510,449 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 236,568 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.36% of Ciena worth $119,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 94.9% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,162 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,441,000 after buying an additional 3,001 shares during the period. Dilation Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Dilation Capital Management LP now owns 24,203 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $5,660,000 after acquiring an additional 4,580 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $23,540,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $1,231,000. Finally, Pinnbrook Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $4,482,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $430.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $404.94.

Ciena Trading Down 2.2%

Ciena stock opened at $569.20 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $496.80 and its 200-day moving average is $340.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $70.77 and a 1 year high of $605.61. The company has a market cap of $80.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 362.55, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 46,341 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,768,105. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 44,174 shares of company stock worth $18,878,661 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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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