iA Global Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 78,830 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,898,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. owned 0.05% of Ciena at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,476,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Ciena by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,513,633 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $158,149,000 after purchasing an additional 791,215 shares in the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,952,264 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $132,881,000 after purchasing an additional 552,882 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 267.9% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 550,290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $24,769,000 after purchasing an additional 400,713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Raymond James lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, B. Riley dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.25.

Ciena Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $1.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $51.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,278,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,767,998. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.11. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $895.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $204,800.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 376,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,522,357.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $204,800.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 376,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,522,357.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,832 shares of company stock valued at $769,636. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Ciena

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.