Joule Financial LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Joule Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,690 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Joule Financial LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $70,065,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Ciena by 375.4% during the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $100,499,000 after buying an additional 975,792 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter worth about $49,221,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Ciena by 1,883.5% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 787,266 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $64,028,000 after acquiring an additional 747,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $12,973,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $151.28 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $21.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 155.96, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $111.66 and a 200 day moving average of $86.59. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.21 and a 1 year high of $154.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $1,019,184.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 282,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,276,651.60. This represents a 2.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,336,431. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.86.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation provides hardware and software services for delivery of video, data, and voice traffic metro, aggregation, and access communications network worldwide. The company’s Networking Platforms segment offers convergence of coherent optical transport, open optical networking, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.