Plato Investment Management Ltd Takes Position in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,355 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,124,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $2,747,810,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,102,409 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,193,300,000 after purchasing an additional 750,128 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Ciena by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $284,313,000 after purchasing an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Ciena by 30,114.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $671,365,000 after purchasing an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of CIEN opened at $447.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.08 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.11. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $84.41 and a 1-year high of $637.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $424.05 and a 200 day moving average of $428.37.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Argus set a $650.00 target price on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Northland Securities set a $450.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $530.56.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,741 shares in the company, valued at $19,921,580.10. This trade represents a 2.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. This trade represents a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 17,475 shares of company stock worth $8,164,824 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

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.