USA Financial Formulas Reduces Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• USA Financial Formulas cut its stake in Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) by 58.6% in Q4, selling 2,636 shares and leaving 1,861 shares worth about $435,000.
• Company insiders sold a total of 148,283 shares (≈$36.4 million) over the past three months, including SVP Jason Phipps (21,383 shares) and SVP Brodie Gage (5,000 shares).
• Ciena beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.35 vs. $1.17; revenue up 33.1% YoY) and analysts have raised targets, giving the stock a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $327.12.

USA Financial Formulas reduced its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 58.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,861 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 2,636 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas' holdings in Ciena were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in Ciena by 139.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 1.4% in 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 during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Ciena by 24.6% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,772 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,015,000 after acquiring an additional 4,898 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total value of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares in the company, valued at $22,747,625.85. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 46,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,768,105. The trade was a 9.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 148,283 shares of company stock worth $36,397,491 over the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $355.00 in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $327.12.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $402.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 256.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $316.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.03. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $446.89.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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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