Patton Fund Management Inc. Takes $5.12 Million Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Patton Fund Management initiated a new position in Ciena, buying 13,189 shares worth about $5.12 million, making the stock its 16th-largest holding and about 0.9% of its portfolio.
• Insiders have been selling shares: CEO Gary B. Smith and SVP Jason Phipps both sold stock in pre-arranged 10b5-1 transactions, and insiders sold a combined 40,500 shares over the last 90 days.
• Ciena’s latest earnings beat expectations, with $1.64 EPS and $1.57 billion in revenue, while analysts remain broadly positive with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $530.56.

Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 13,189 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,120,000. Ciena makes up approximately 0.9% of Patton Fund Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total transaction of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,843,817.10. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total value of $9,021,337.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This represents a 99.69% 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 a total of 40,500 shares of company stock valued at $18,381,089 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ciena from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $481.36 on Monday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $518.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $382.67. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $76.89 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

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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