Washington Capital Management Inc. Sells 3,125 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Washington Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,220 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 3,125 shares during the period. Ciena comprises approximately 1.1% of Washington Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Washington Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $202,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 640.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 64,466 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,106,000 after buying an additional 55,763 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 490.2% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 50,062 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,412,000 after acquiring an additional 41,580 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,799 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted 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 buying an additional 854 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN traded up $3.31 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $84.67. The stock had a trading volume of 1,386,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,701,118. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44. 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 cap of $12.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $81.39 and a 200 day moving average of $66.70.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted 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 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm's revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI downgraded Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities boosted their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.77.

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.