Truist Financial Corp Buys 2,800 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,614 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,427,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,171.4% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 41,326 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $661,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth about $5,039,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 13.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $72,223,000 after purchasing an additional 181,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth about $1,587,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $68.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The firm has a market cap of $9.89 billion, a PE ratio of 72.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.08. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $69.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ciena from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.92.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at $10,368,269.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953 over the last quarter. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena 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.