First Merchants Corp Buys Shares of 2,445 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

First Merchants Corp purchased a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 241.5% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $89.45 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $85.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.80. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a PE ratio of 156.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.88.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.77.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total transaction of $235,050.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,197.48. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total transaction of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,292 shares of company stock valued at $4,786,620. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.