Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 4,731 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,731 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 1,171.4% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 41,326 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $661,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,039,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Ciena by 13.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 181,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,587,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $65.33 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.67. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $39.94 and a twelve month high of $69.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.82, a PEG ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.