Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stake Cut by Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. reduced its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 17.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 332,748 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 69,431 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.23% of Ciena worth $28,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in Ciena by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,897 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,705,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.54, for a total transaction of $404,872.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 375,680 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,367,987.20. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 49,288 shares of company stock valued at $3,299,980. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock traded up $5.53 on Wednesday, hitting $65.03. 805,764 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,532,487. The stock has a market cap of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $44.69 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.53 and a 200-day moving average of $73.81.

Ciena Company 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.