Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Decreases Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lowered its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 30.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 229,307 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 102,513 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned about 0.16% of Ciena worth $19,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 955,516 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $58,850,000 after buying an additional 6,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $57,861,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CIEN. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Ciena Trading Up 3.8 %

CIEN traded up $3.59 during trading on Thursday, hitting $98.44. 4,940,413 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,094,216. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.35. The firm has a market cap of $13.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 172.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $100.92.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.