Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 3,911 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Park Avenue Securities reduced its Ciena stake by 26.7%, selling 3,911 shares during the third quarter and retaining 10,746 shares valued at approximately $3.78 million.
• Institutional investors own 91.99% of Ciena’s stock, while company insiders sold 36,014 shares worth about $13.46 million over the past three months.
• Ciena holds a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $485.93, despite shares opening at $348.57 after a 4% decline; the company recently exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up 37% year over year.

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 26.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,746 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 3,911 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter valued at $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Ciena by 7.0% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $160,468,000 after acquiring an additional 26,900 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 10.7% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 321,825 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $124,942,000 after acquiring an additional 31,098 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 4.1% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $116,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 24.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $93,719,000 after acquiring an additional 52,382 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley restated a "positive" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 17th. B. Riley Financial dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, September 21st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $600.00 price objective (up from $530.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $485.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.52, for a total transaction of $568,612.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 39,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,186,636.40. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.02, for a total transaction of $1,027,355.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 225,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,462,849.10. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 36,014 shares of company stock worth $13,457,571 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Stock Down 4.0%

Ciena stock opened at $348.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $49.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.81, a PEG ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $364.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $401.52. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $168.22 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation NYSE: CIEN is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company's portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.

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