Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 2,770 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of 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. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 118.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $82.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.47, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $76.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.69. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $91.82. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $311,815.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,194,102.73. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 47,131 shares of company stock valued at $3,924,465. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.