Swiss National Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank increased its Ciena stake by 7.0% in the first quarter, buying 26,900 additional shares and ending with 413,332 shares valued at about $160.5 million.
• Ciena reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $1.64 versus $1.46 expected and revenue of $1.57 billion versus $1.50 billion expected, with revenue up 39.5% year over year.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive, with several analysts lifting targets and the stock carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average price target of $530.56.

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 7.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Ciena worth $160,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Ciena by 139.6% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $373.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.90 billion, a PE ratio of 124.57 and a beta of 1.27. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.20 and a 52-week high of $637.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $495.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $404.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The business's revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total value of $1,659,171.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 272,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $153,163,683.45. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. This represents a 4.04% 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 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America upped their price target on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $530.56.

About Ciena

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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