MetLife Investment Management LLC Buys 7,129 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,129 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Ciena worth $6,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,299,004,000 after acquiring an additional 139,941 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $444,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,447 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $205,301,000 after purchasing an additional 11,933 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4,215.9% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 899,828 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $76,314,000 after buying an additional 878,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Up 2.9 %

Ciena stock opened at $59.51 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.53 and a 200-day moving average of $73.81. The company has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.53 and a one year high of $101.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on CIEN. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.62.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.86, for a total value of $577,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 412,149 shares in the company, valued at $34,974,964.14. This trade represents a 1.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock valued at $3,299,980. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

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.

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