Janus Henderson Group PLC Decreases Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 43.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 249,204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 192,433 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 0.18% of Ciena worth $96,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the 1st 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 during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $377.33 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $84.41 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $457.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $413.52. The company has a market capitalization of $53.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 125.78 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.Ciena’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. B. Riley Financial raised their price target on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $1,225,639.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,082,488.40. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. This trade represents a 2.73% 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 have sold a total of 18,675 shares of company stock worth $9,387,576 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.