Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.67% of Ciena worth $148,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 241.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,989 shares of company stock valued at $460,211. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $91.19 on Tuesday. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $42.20 and a 12-month high of $91.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $69.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.23.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.