Ciena Corporation $CIEN is Atreides Management LP’s 4th Largest Position

Atreides Management LP increased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,400,764 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 137,946 shares during the period. Ciena makes up approximately 4.0% of Atreides Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Atreides Management LP owned approximately 0.99% of Ciena worth $204,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $1,993,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth $1,726,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ciena by 7.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,243,053 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $426,420,000 after acquiring an additional 359,579 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $568,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in Ciena by 38.7% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 112,011 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,317,000 after purchasing an additional 31,225 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total value of $1,921,741.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 91,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,747,625.85. This represents a 18.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,235 shares of company stock valued at $36,941,890. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $320.00 price objective (up from $280.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Northland Securities set a $190.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore set a $330.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.65.

Ciena Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $337.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 214.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $284.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $365.90.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 4.47%.Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current 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.