Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Holdings Increased by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 15.00% of Ciena worth $1,334,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Ciena by 424.4% during the third 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. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 241.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $70.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.23 billion, a PE ratio of 75.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $73.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.48 and its 200-day moving average is $55.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.