Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. Takes $5.83 Million Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. 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 Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 68,720 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,828,000. Ciena accounts for about 2.1% of Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Ciena by 409.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $4.07 on Monday, hitting $69.63. 1,644,022 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,907,665. The company's fifty day moving average is $80.32 and its 200 day moving average is $73.86. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a PE ratio of 122.16, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Remove Ads

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total transaction of $443,224.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Northland Securities upgraded Ciena from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.38.

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.