Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Acquires 87,953 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 826.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 98,600 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 87,953 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Ciena worth $6,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $130,392,000 after buying an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $98,743,000 after purchasing an additional 301,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. 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 research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.08.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $2.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $67.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 866,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,803,261. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.80 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.43.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The business 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 business's revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.