Barclays PLC Has $6.25 Million Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Barclays PLC trimmed its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 31.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 101,417 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 47,615 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.07% of Ciena worth $6,246,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 241.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in Ciena by 118.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $772,026 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $1.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $87.38. 3,838,621 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,872,637. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $91.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.96, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The business's fifty day moving average price is $70.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.88.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.00.

About Ciena

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.