BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Lowers Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. decreased its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,304,811 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 643,045 shares during the quarter. Ciena makes up 0.7% of BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned about 2.98% of Ciena worth $265,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 24.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $130,392,000 after acquiring an additional 523,313 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.2% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,743,000 after acquiring an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 0.9 %

Ciena stock opened at $66.50 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a PE ratio of 70.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.04.

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

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ciena

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.