Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 65,000 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Impax Asset Management Group plc reduced its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 211,064 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 65,000 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned approximately 0.15% of Ciena worth $12,999,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $2.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $67.22. 1,611,781 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,806,615. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.52, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Northland Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.08.

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.