Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Acquired by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 107.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,583 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,484 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Ciena were worth $4,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 71.0% during the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 154 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Argus set a $650.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $530.56.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. The trade was a 2.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,909,971.15. The trade was a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 40,374 shares of company stock valued at $18,324,470 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $484.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $518.44 and a 200 day moving average of $380.77. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $68.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 161.43 and a beta of 1.24. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $76.89 and a twelve month high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The company had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

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.