Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC owned about 0.09% of Ciena worth $8,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Ciena by 339.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Ciena by 118.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Down 0.9 %

CIEN opened at $66.60 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year high of $73.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.