Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,973 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 597 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in Ciena by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 3.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Ciena by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,469 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,914 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $74.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a PE ratio of 131.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $85.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,601.52. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 425,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,618,161.34. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CIEN. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Northland Securities boosted their target price on 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.77.

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.