Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Has $19.45 Million Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH trimmed its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 30.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 229,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 102,513 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Ciena were worth $19,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 955,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,850,000 after buying an additional 6,605 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $57,861,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500 in the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 6.9 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $94.82 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $95.27. The company has a market capitalization of $13.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 166.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.35. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on CIEN shares. Northland Securities boosted their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven equities research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.