ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 1,921 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,890 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,921 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $10,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $404,948,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Ciena by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $160,468,000 after buying an additional 26,900 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 321,825 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $124,942,000 after buying an additional 31,098 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $116,900,000 after buying an additional 12,986 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 24.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $93,719,000 after acquiring an additional 52,382 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CFO Marc Graff sold 97 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total value of $34,453.43. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 107,136 shares in the company, valued at $38,053,635.84. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.02, for a total value of $1,027,355.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 225,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,462,849.10. This trade represents a 1.29% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,062 shares of company stock worth $12,336,372. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 5.6%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $300.30 on Wednesday. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $168.22 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company has a quick ratio of 3.17, a current ratio of 3.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $359.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $402.45. The firm has a market cap of $42.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.03, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.33.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 10.87% and a return on equity of 25.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Weiss Ratings cut Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $440.00 price objective for the company. Finally, CL King set a $347.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $485.93.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software, and services for communications networks. Its solutions help telecommunications carriers, cloud providers, enterprises, government organizations, and research institutions build, manage, and automate high-capacity networks.

The company’s portfolio includes optical networking systems, routing and switching platforms, network automation software, and network management tools. Ciena also offers consulting, implementation, maintenance, and professional services designed to support network planning, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operations.