Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,956 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,966 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 2.8% during the third quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 9,774 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 3.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 8,321 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 65,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total value of $501,586.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,521,988.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total value of $501,586.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,521,988.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,351 shares of company stock valued at $1,921,835. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $48.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $39.94 and a 52 week high of $63.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $49.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.