PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Sells 8,771 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,610 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,771 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Operose Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $154,000. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $204,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $48.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a current ratio of 3.88. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $63.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a PE ratio of 46.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.39.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $895.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total transaction of $144,355.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,561.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total transaction of $144,355.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,561.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $26,442.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares in the company, valued at $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,641 shares of company stock worth $1,031,032 over the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Ciena in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, B. Riley decreased their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.25.

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.