Sowell Financial Services LLC Buys Shares of 2,816 Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired 2,816 shares of Ciena Corporation, worth approximately $229,000, marking its entry into investing in the communications equipment provider.
• Several institutional investors, including Bessemer Group and MassMutual, have significantly increased their positions in Ciena, which now sees over 91% of its stock owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts have upgraded their ratings on Ciena, with Bank of America and Needham & Company increasing their price targets significantly, indicating a strong market sentiment towards the company.

Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,816 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in Ciena by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Ciena by 66.7% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its stake in Ciena by 9,162.5% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Ciena by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $187,162.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,186 shares of company stock worth $4,787,846 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.86.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $142.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $105.39 and a 200 day moving average of $83.39. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $49.21 and a twelve month high of $143.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.53, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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.

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