Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 20,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,026,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $154,000. Finally, Claret Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth about $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $1.37 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $46.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,384,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,852,839. The firm has a market cap of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a current ratio of 3.88.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The company had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $895.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 7th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,340,561.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,340,561.54. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total value of $204,800.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 376,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,522,357.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,654 shares of company stock valued at $929,794 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.