Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Sells 234,992 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Stephens Investment Management Group cut its Ciena stake by 43.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 234,992 shares and leaving it with 306,512 shares valued at about $71.7 million.
• Analysts remain largely bullish on Ciena, with several firms raising price targets; the stock now has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target price of $381.44.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, posting $1.35 EPS on $1.43 billion in revenue, both ahead of expectations, while revenue rose 33.1% year over year.

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC trimmed its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 43.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 306,512 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 234,992 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned approximately 0.22% of Ciena worth $71,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Ciena by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 710 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 1.7% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,772 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $695,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,549 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 2,612 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $381.44.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total value of $566,148.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 45,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,297,072.39. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. This trade represents a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Down 6.3%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $554.26 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $70.77 and a 12 month high of $598.84. The stock has a market cap of $78.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 353.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $454.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.14.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena Company 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.

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