Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Sells 39,177 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 93.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,690 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 39,177 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $94,742,000 after buying an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $57,861,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 428.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $42,705,000 after buying an additional 718,551 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,416,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set 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 upped their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN traded up $2.39 on Wednesday, reaching $85.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,905,907 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,771,282. The firm has a market cap of $12.20 billion, a PE ratio of 91.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.78. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $91.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. The company's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,631 shares of company stock valued at $3,688,460 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.