Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Sells 2,094 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning lowered its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 34.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,034 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,094 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Ciena were worth $199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $154,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at about $206,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $46.93 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.56. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.76. The stock has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $895.80 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,288 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $63,112.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,444,267. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total transaction of $204,800.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 376,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,522,357.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,288 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total transaction of $63,112.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,883 shares in the company, valued at $2,444,267. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,654 shares of company stock worth $929,794. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Citigroup started coverage on Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Barclays reduced their target price on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.