Providence Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 114,047 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,220 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Ciena worth $5,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 1,171.4% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 41,326 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at about $661,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Ciena by 13.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,223,000 after purchasing an additional 181,358 shares during the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,135,000 after acquiring an additional 90,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $73,476,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 5.0 %

CIEN opened at $61.68 on Tuesday. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.30, a PEG ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday. Raymond James lowered Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total transaction of $130,962.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,635,840. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,712 shares of company stock valued at $498,637. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

About Ciena

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.