Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Purchases 975,792 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. significantly increased its stake in Ciena Corporation by 375.4%, acquiring a total of 1,235,696 shares valued at approximately $100.5 million.
• Analysts have recently upgraded Ciena, with Morgan Stanley setting a new price target of $100 and JPMorgan Chase raising it to $140, indicating growing confidence in the company's performance.
• CEO Gary B. Smith and Director Bruce L. Claflin have recently sold shares of Ciena, lifting concerns about insider selling, as insiders have divested a total of 45,724 shares in the past three months.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 375.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 975,792 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned 0.87% of Ciena worth $100,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. bought a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $445,000. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 7.1% in the second quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,442 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,289 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 29.8% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,868 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SWS Partners lifted its position in Ciena by 2.9% in the second quarter. SWS Partners now owns 29,756 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $122.86.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total value of $1,019,184.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 282,070 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,276,651.60. This represents a 2.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,336,431 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $151.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $21.34 billion, a PE ratio of 155.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a 50 day moving average of $111.66 and a 200 day moving average of $86.30. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $154.02.

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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