Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 612,861 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 143,710 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.43% of Ciena worth $89,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $102,705,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 3,577.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares during the last quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 546.9% in the 2nd quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 997,425 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,106,000 after purchasing an additional 843,235 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 35.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,708,540 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $220,286,000 after acquiring an additional 702,909 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ciena by 124.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,220,927 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $99,298,000 after purchasing an additional 677,299 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. B. Riley Financial reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Evercore set a $240.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.67.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total transaction of $19,170,170.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 307,885 shares in the company, valued at $70,641,134.40. This represents a 21.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Patrick Gallagher sold 11,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.45, for a total transaction of $2,642,514.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 50,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,414,350.80. The trade was a 18.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 164,042 shares of company stock valued at $37,766,026. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 7.5%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $271.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $38.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 319.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $234.17 and a 200-day moving average of $173.93. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $49.21 and a 52-week high of $285.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 2.73.

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

Ciena Profile

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.