Swedbank AB Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 100,654 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,540,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $292,310,000. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth $102,705,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Ciena by 2,174.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,143,855 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $166,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093,557 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Ciena by 3,577.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,032,393 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,965,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,323 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $280.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.56.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $546.61 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $70.77 and a 12-month high of $583.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 348.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $427.16 and a 200-day moving average of $299.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.00, for a total value of $2,025,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 46,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,768,105. This represents a 9.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 42,974 shares of company stock valued at $17,418,863 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.