M & L Capital Management Ltd Makes New $714,000 Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

M & L Capital Management Ltd bought a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $714,000. Ciena comprises about 0.1% of M & L Capital Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 107.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 65.6% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,593 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Ciena by 82.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management increased its position in shares of Ciena by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CIEN. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price target on Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 price objective on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays upped their target price on Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore ISI set a $240.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $237.50.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 1,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.42, for a total transaction of $284,545.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 80,244 shares in the company, valued at $11,508,594.48. This represents a 2.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 55,873 shares of company stock valued at $10,062,655 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $235.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.19 billion, a PE ratio of 277.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.21 and a 52 week high of $248.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $195.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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.