Polar Capital Holdings Plc Trims Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Polar Capital Holdings Plc cut its Ciena stake by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 173,784 shares and leaving it with 1,289,427 shares valued at about $301.6 million.
• Ciena’s latest earnings beat expectations, with quarterly EPS of $1.64 versus $1.46 expected and revenue of $1.57 billion, up 39.5% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock, with 13 Buy ratings, 7 Hold ratings, and a consensus “Moderate Buy” target price of $530.56, despite some recent insider selling and several target-price increases.

Polar Capital Holdings Plc reduced its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 11.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,289,427 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 173,784 shares during the period. Ciena comprises approximately 1.2% of Polar Capital Holdings Plc's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Polar Capital Holdings Plc owned about 0.91% of Ciena worth $301,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,428,000. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 20,423 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $4,776,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 1,581.1% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 93,975 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $21,978,000 after acquiring an additional 88,385 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore set a $330.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings raised Ciena from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $430.83 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $72.96 and a 1-year high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business's fifty day moving average price is $521.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $368.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.98 billion, a PE ratio of 143.61 and a beta of 1.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total value of $684,780.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,941 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,074,931.65. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $565.92, for a total value of $1,670,595.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 269,557 shares in the company, valued at $152,547,697.44. This trade represents a 1.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 41,222 shares of company stock valued at $18,441,027 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CIEN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.