Riverwater Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Riverwater Partners LLC lowered its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 31.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,850 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 8,266 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $1,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $260,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 17.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $98,743,000 after purchasing an additional 301,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 7,767.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $94,742,000 after buying an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Northland Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $66.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,154,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,817,677. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $69.91. The company has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.73, a P/E/G ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.06.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

About Ciena

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.