Rafferty Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 27.9%, owning 8,168 shares valued at approximately $494,000 after selling 3,161 shares in the first quarter.
• Ciena's recent earnings reveal a missed earnings per share estimate of $0.50, reporting only $0.42 for the quarter, despite a revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year.
• The stock has been affected by varying analyst ratings, including a downgrade from a "buy" to a "hold" by Wall Street Zen, impacting its price target and overall investor sentiment.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 27.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,168 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 3,161 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $183,987,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 971.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 729,722 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $61,891,000 after acquiring an additional 661,630 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $12,973,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 8,381.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 178,873 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $10,809,000 after acquiring an additional 176,764 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total value of $559,164.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,770,552.11. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total value of $31,829.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. This represents a 0.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,969 shares of company stock worth $2,694,781 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Down 0.6%

CIEN stock opened at $93.44 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The business's 50-day moving average is $87.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The company has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.16.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Ciena has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $78.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.69.

Ciena Company 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.

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