Neuberger Berman Group LLC Trims Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Neuberger Berman Group LLC has decreased its holdings in Ciena Corporation (CIEN) by 9.7%, owning 1,647,074 shares after selling 177,643 shares in the 1st quarter.
• Ciena reported quarterly earnings of $0.42 EPS, missing estimates of $0.50, but had revenue of $1.13 billion, which exceeded the consensus estimate.
• Several institutional investors, including Bessemer Group Inc. and National Bank of Canada FI, increased their stakes in Ciena, reflecting a growing interest among institutional investors.

Neuberger Berman Group LLC cut its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,647,074 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 177,643 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned approximately 1.16% of Ciena worth $99,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Ciena by 195.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $392,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at about $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc increased its position in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $183,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 4,215.9% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 899,828 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $76,314,000 after purchasing an additional 878,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 971.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $61,891,000 after purchasing an additional 661,630 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.54.

Ciena Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $1.18 during trading on Monday, reaching $92.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,077,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,275,913. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The stock has a market cap of $13.01 billion, a PE ratio of 127.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.11. The business's 50-day moving average is $83.43 and its 200 day moving average is $76.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total transaction of $28,899.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,601,538.26. This represents a 0.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,819 shares of company stock valued at $2,047,280 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.