Waterloo Capital L.P. Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,537 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the first quarter worth approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Ciena by 139.6% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 1.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total value of $1,226,585.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 281,365 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% 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. Insiders sold 41,222 shares of company stock valued at $17,831,763 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley Financial increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $222.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.61.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $568.43 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $70.77 and a 52 week high of $605.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 362.06 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $503.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $345.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.14, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

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.