Marex Group plc Makes New $434,000 Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Marex Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 5,342 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Ciena by 107.5% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Ciena by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 65.6% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,593 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Ciena by 82.5% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total transaction of $1,309,748.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 254,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,090,510.70. This represents a 2.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 44,785 shares of company stock worth $7,734,906 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CIEN. Northland Capmk cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $175.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $270.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on Ciena from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.38.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $216.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.50 billion, a PE ratio of 254.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.17. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $248.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $189.69 and its 200-day moving average is $130.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena Company 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.