Covestor Ltd Grows Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Covestor Ltd increased its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 339.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the quarter. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Ciena were worth $60,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $33,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth $40,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $61,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $154,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $49.62 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $63.24. The stock has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $48.23 and its 200 day moving average is $50.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The company had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $895.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley lowered their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $204,800.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 376,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,522,357.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total transaction of $63,112.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,883 shares in the company, valued at $2,444,267. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $204,800.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 376,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,522,357.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 15,832 shares of company stock valued at $769,636 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.