Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 38,402 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 1,108.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,867 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 38,402 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Ciena in the first quarter worth about $543,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 13.0% during the first quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 16,500 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $816,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth approximately $442,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 4.2 %

CIEN traded up $2.63 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $65.87. 1,353,184 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,806,555. The company has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year high of $69.91. The company's fifty day moving average price is $61.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.15.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.08.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

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

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.