Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Impax Asset Management Group plc

Impax Asset Management Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 38.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 130,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 80,650 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Ciena were worth $11,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 5,717 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 241.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Ciena by 399.6% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 1,902 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 5.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 11,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $739,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

Ciena Trading Down 4.4 %

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $80.38 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The firm has a market cap of $11.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.01, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,197.48. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 56,642 shares of company stock worth $4,818,176. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.