Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,744 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $233,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,861,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $40,416,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $35,403,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at $17,236,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 119.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,744,000 after acquiring an additional 130,399 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $81.38 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $81.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

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.