Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Position Raised by Chartwell Investment Partners LLC

Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 97.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 46,584 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 23,000 shares during the quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $2,869,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 28,506 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 7,473 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $1,988,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $128,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 320,215 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $19,722,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $289,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE CIEN traded up $0.51 on Wednesday, reaching $71.44. The company had a trading volume of 1,695,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,382. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a PE ratio of 76.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.14 and a 200-day 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 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The business's revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.