William Blair Investment Management LLC Buys 702,909 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ciena Corporation by 35.0%, acquiring an additional 702,909 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 2.7 million shares valued at $220 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Allianz Asset Management, have also significantly increased their positions in Ciena, highlighting growing institutional interest as 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts show strong confidence in Ciena, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price lifted to $137.53 following recent upgrades from multiple investment firms.

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 35.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 702,909 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.92% of Ciena worth $220,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $5,943,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Ciena by 68.2% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 173,988 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $14,150,000 after acquiring an additional 70,551 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $306,000. Jag Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $223,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $127.50 to $175.00 in a report on Friday, September 26th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.53.

Ciena Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $171.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $176.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $125.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.17 billion, a PE ratio of 176.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.15.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%.The firm had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total transaction of $631,924.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 305,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,358,240.01. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,884,992.08. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $5,936,444 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Company Profile

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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