Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Lowers Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 430,510 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 13,417 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 0.30% of Ciena worth $36,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $148,348,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $245,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $421,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 283.7% during the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 50,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after buying an additional 36,970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Northland Securities raised shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,560 shares of company stock worth $5,406,323. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $62.75 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.21 and a 200 day moving average of $73.85. The stock has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Ciena Company 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.