New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 89,902 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 89,902 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,625,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 955,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,850,000 after purchasing an additional 6,605 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 70.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 47,929 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,952,000 after purchasing an additional 19,785 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 44.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 48,883 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,021,000 after purchasing an additional 14,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Ciena by 10.8% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 34,198 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 3,336 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $62.75 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.85. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44. The company has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 110.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,560 shares of company stock valued at $5,406,323. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.