88,786 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Purchased by Portolan Capital Management LLC

Portolan Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 88,786 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,933,000. Portolan Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Ciena as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ciena from $250.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ciena from $280.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $320.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 9,422 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,746.52. This trade represents a 47.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,747,625.85. The trade was a 18.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 156,235 shares of company stock worth $36,941,890 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $337.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 214.97, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.08. 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $284.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.59.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.