Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 21,707 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,337,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth about $215,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 152,529 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $8,011,000 after purchasing an additional 5,351 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 18,582 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $919,000 after purchasing an additional 3,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter worth about $1,911,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE CIEN traded down $1.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $69.88. 885,248 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,804,003. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.32. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The company has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business's revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

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.