AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,239 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $444,000.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Ciena by 409.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Ciena
In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total transaction of $443,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 391,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,534,199.82. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,560 shares of company stock valued at $5,406,323. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 price target (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.38.
View Our Latest Analysis on Ciena
Ciena Price Performance
NYSE:CIEN traded down $3.01 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $62.75. 3,517,795 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,919,258. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The firm's 50-day moving average is $79.64 and its 200-day moving average is $73.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44.
About Ciena
(
Free Report)
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.
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