Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stock Holdings Lessened by National Pension Service

National Pension Service reduced its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 272,251 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 26,292 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.19% of Ciena worth $133,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 15.2% in the second quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 205 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.1% during the second quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.8% during the first quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.90, for a total value of $1,071,280.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 243,078 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,213,006.20. The trade was a 1.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,422 shares of company stock worth $11,038,802 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Ciena

Here are the key news stories impacting Ciena this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Northland Securities raised its earnings forecasts and maintained an Outperform rating. The firm increased its Q4 2026 EPS estimate to $1.83 from $1.51, FY2026 EPS to $6.05 from $5.39, and FY2027 EPS to $10.98 from $9.35. Its $500 price target implies substantial upside and reflects confidence in Ciena’s earnings growth. Northland Securities earnings estimates and price target
• Positive Sentiment: Ciena’s backlog and data-center exposure support the growth case. Its backlog is expected to exceed $10 billion by the end of fiscal 2026, while demand for optical networking and data-center interconnection remains strong. Spark’s launch of a dedicated data-center interconnect service using Ciena technology provides another commercial validation of this demand. Ciena backlog and supply constraints Spark launches data-center interconnect service with Ciena
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts project accelerating earnings through fiscal 2027. Northland estimates quarterly EPS rising from $2.15 in Q1 2027 to $3.41 in Q4 2027, substantially above the roughly $5.43 consensus estimate for the current year. These forecasts are supportive, but they depend on timely backlog conversion and continued demand. Northland Securities future earnings estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Supply constraints could delay revenue recognition. Although the backlog is growing, shortages or delivery bottlenecks may prevent Ciena from converting orders into revenue quickly, creating uncertainty around near-term results. The stock’s high earnings multiple also leaves less room for disappointment if growth is delayed. Can Ciena convert its backlog despite supply constraints?

Ciena Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $334.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a PE ratio of 74.67 and a beta of 1.30. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $130.00 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $393.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $438.74.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%.The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Ciena from $600.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Evercore set a $375.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $475.68.

About Ciena

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a networking technology company that provides hardware, software and services for communications networks. Its solutions help service providers, cloud companies, enterprises and government organizations build, manage and automate high-capacity networks that support broadband, cloud computing, data center interconnection and other digital services.

The company’s product portfolio includes optical networking systems, coherent optical technology, routers, switches, network control and automation software, and network management tools.