Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stake Lessened by Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC

Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 69.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 517,421 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 1,191,602 shares during the period. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC owned approximately 0.36% of Ciena worth $31,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at $994,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.6% during the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 136,274 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $6,739,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth about $543,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth about $1,026,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 71.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,805 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $63.97. 1,427,143 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,897,572. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $42.17 and a 52 week high of $69.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.05, a P/E/G ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.95.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.