Bank of America Corp DE Sells 209,815 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Bank of America Corp DE lessened its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,954,632 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 209,815 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Ciena were worth $758,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 1.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at about $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $377.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $457.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $413.52. 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 stock has a market cap of $53.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 125.78 and a beta of 1.27. Ciena Corporation has a 52-week low of $84.41 and a 52-week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Argus set a $650.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $457.02, for a total value of $1,349,123.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 266,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $121,843,817.10. This trade represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% 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. Insiders have sold 18,675 shares of company stock worth $9,387,576 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.