Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 1,283,357 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 70.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 534,254 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,283,357 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Ciena were worth $43,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its position in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Ciena by 15.4% in the first 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. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 82.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 21.5% in the second quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,455 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $216.26 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.11. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $248.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 254.42, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.61, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 44,785 shares of company stock worth $7,734,906 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on CIEN shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $138.00 to $279.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $240.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.38.

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.