Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by Versant Capital Management Inc

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 925.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Ciena were worth $28,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 241.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Down 3.1 %

CIEN stock opened at $81.91 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.56. The company has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.14, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total transaction of $235,050.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,197.48. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,219 shares of company stock valued at $2,487,621 in the last quarter. 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.