Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 5,684 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,350 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,684 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN traded up $0.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $84.96. 1,563,631 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,718,021. 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 $12.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.06, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $91.82. The business has a 50 day moving average of $78.14 and a 200-day moving average of $64.08.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.