Stephens Inc. AR Sells 1,561 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 35.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,801 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,561 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth $102,705,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $58,741.20. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 126,955 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,186,421. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,921,580.10. The trade was a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 22,827 shares of company stock worth $11,541,133. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock traded down $1.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $461.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,282,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,926,307. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $65.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 153.71 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $508.35 and a 200-day moving average of $397.63. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $76.89 and a 52 week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price on the stock. B. Riley Financial upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Ciena from $285.00 to $508.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ciena from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Company 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.