Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 18.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,162,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 332,181 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.49% of Ciena worth $97,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 267.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 550,290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $24,769,000 after purchasing an additional 400,713 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Ciena by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 47,229 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,126,000 after acquiring an additional 7,251 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $349,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $329,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 949,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,736,000 after acquiring an additional 18,860 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total transaction of $501,586.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,521,988.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total transaction of $501,586.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 407,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,521,988.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total transaction of $175,665.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 230,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,543,750.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,473 shares of company stock worth $1,715,991 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE CIEN opened at $49.43 on Wednesday. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $39.94 and a 12 month high of $63.24. The company has a current ratio of 4.29, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $47.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.97. The stock has a market cap of $7.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, equities 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.