Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,633 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 803 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after buying an additional 1,961,513 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after buying an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth about $48,214,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.7% in the 1st quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 1,524,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $75,378,000 after acquiring an additional 827,352 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $65.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.67. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $69.91. The firm has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.82, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.