Raiffeisen Bank International AG Sells 16,901 Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Raiffeisen Bank International AG reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 25.6%, selling 16,901 shares, and now holds a total of 49,180 shares valued at approximately $3 million.
• In the fourth quarter, several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Ciena, including Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD, which raised its stake by 195.9%.
• Ciena reported a Q2 earnings miss with an EPS of $0.42, falling short of the estimated $0.50, although revenue increased by 23.6% year-over-year, reaching $1.13 billion.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG lessened its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 25.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,180 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 16,901 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 195.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ciena by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $273,684,000 after purchasing an additional 49,996 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $205,301,000 after purchasing an additional 11,933 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Ciena by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,238,284 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $105,019,000 after acquiring an additional 257,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN traded down $1.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $91.49. The stock had a trading volume of 1,469,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,954,416. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.99 and a 200 day moving average of $76.16. 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 firm has a market cap of $12.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.07, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $45.63 and a 12 month high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.54.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $199,825.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,817,891 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

About Ciena

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.