Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stock Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 327,337 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 30,103 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Ciena worth $115,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter valued at $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $160,468,000 after acquiring an additional 26,900 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $116,900,000 after acquiring an additional 12,986 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $93,719,000 after acquiring an additional 52,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Ciena by 309.8% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 223,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $86,509,000 after acquiring an additional 168,736 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Thomas Nevens sold 3,738 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $359.04, for a total transaction of $1,342,091.52. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,258,002.56. This trade represents a 37.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total value of $933,794.51. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 57,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,383,643.72. The trade was a 4.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,062 shares of company stock valued at $12,336,372. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $520.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $525.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $635.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $485.93.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock opened at $284.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.29 billion, a PE ratio of 63.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 1.28. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $168.22 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $361.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $402.14.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.