Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Buys 518,003 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 4,484.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 529,555 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 518,003 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.37% of Ciena worth $44,912,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in Ciena by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,897 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,705,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Ciena by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,469 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total transaction of $30,068.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513 in the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $2.66 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $53.53. 5,780,351 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,998,868. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $75.40 and a 200 day moving average of $74.33. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.