Blue Trust Inc. Cuts Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Blue Trust Inc. cut its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 26.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,052 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 372 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $89,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $245,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $421,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $1,988,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,334,290,000 after buying an additional 108,407 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,435,197.48. This represents a 5.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.77.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $84.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a PE ratio of 147.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.