Blue Trust Inc. Buys 1,007 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 241.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $88,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 31,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,124,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Petredis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $274,000. SWS Partners raised its position in shares of Ciena by 70.6% during the third quarter. SWS Partners now owns 37,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,301,000 after acquiring an additional 15,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 65.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 5,717 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $65.28 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.60. 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 company has a market capitalization of $9.38 billion, a PE ratio of 62.77, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $40.46 and a 12 month high of $69.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CIEN. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, October 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus 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.