Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,525 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,673 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $4,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,861,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,416,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth $35,403,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth $17,236,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in Ciena by 119.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $89.74 on Friday. 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 $12.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.88. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.46.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.86, for a total transaction of $577,048.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 412,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,974,964.14. The trade was a 1.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 57,581 shares of company stock valued at $4,875,548. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Company 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.