Amalgamated Bank Trims Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Amalgamated Bank trimmed its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 15.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,533 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 12,699 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in Ciena were worth $4,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE CIEN traded up $1.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.91. 2,277,069 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,707,360. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $72.36. The firm has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a PE ratio of 76.50, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Ciena's revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.