Ritholtz Wealth Management Invests $306,000 in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,765 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Ciena by 375.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,499,000 after acquiring an additional 975,792 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Ciena by 516.6% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after acquiring an additional 15,683 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Ciena by 322.8% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 34,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after acquiring an additional 25,986 shares during the period. Connective Portfolio Management LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter valued at $651,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter valued at $295,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $173.20 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $177.79. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $24.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 178.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.15.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%.The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Argus increased their target price on Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas set a $185.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,653,914.88. This trade represents a 13.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.25, for a total value of $1,157,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,864,717.50. This represents a 2.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $5,936,444. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.