Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Invests $215,000 in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 3,552 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,792,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,225,000 after purchasing an additional 14,994 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 22,049 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 3,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $239,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $88.59 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $44.89 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 123.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several research reports. Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.54.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total value of $559,164.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 325,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,770,552.11. The trade was a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,269 shares of company stock valued at $3,306,811 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.