Rockland Trust Co. Takes Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Rockland Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,628 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 1,171.4% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,161,000 after buying an additional 41,326 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $661,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Ciena by 13.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $72,223,000 after purchasing an additional 181,358 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth $5,039,000. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 67.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,135,000 after buying an additional 90,610 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Up 2.2 %

CIEN traded up $1.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.69. The stock had a trading volume of 2,110,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,806,516. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $66.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953 over the last quarter. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

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.