Madison Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 46,537 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 46,537 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,947,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ciena by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $245,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $421,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $1,988,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock opened at $62.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.30, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $83.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.22.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,453,129.09. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Barclays set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

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.