KBC Group NV Sells 20,104 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

KBC Group NV lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 40.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,057 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 20,104 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in Ciena were worth $2,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $148,348,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $245,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at $421,000. Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $1,988,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,334,290,000 after buying an additional 108,407 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 57,581 shares of company stock valued at $4,875,548. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $4.65 on Wednesday, hitting $92.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,610,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,689,211. The company has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of 161.67, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.01. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $78.77.

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.