Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 17.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 38,350 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,684 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 2.0 %

CIEN stock opened at $84.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.94 billion, a PE ratio of 147.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $77.86 and a 200-day moving average of $63.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,631 shares of company stock worth $3,688,460 over the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

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.