Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 176.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,591 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,116 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ciena by 328.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in Ciena by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN traded up $0.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,813,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,077,438. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.16. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $44.89 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.55, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.60, for a total value of $25,410.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,331,105.80. The trade was a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total transaction of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 348,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,853,731.20. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,138 shares of company stock worth $3,517,997 in the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities set a $85.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $44.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.15.

Ciena 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.