Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Providence Capital Advisors LLC

Providence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,249 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 29,798 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of Ciena worth $5,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 7,767.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $48,214,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 428.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,705,000 after purchasing an additional 718,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,416,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $69.17 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.67. The company has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $42.20 and a 52 week high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

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.