Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 332,668 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 148,817 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Ciena worth $20,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $148,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at about $5,039,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $1,988,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 13.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $72,223,000 after purchasing an additional 181,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,334,290,000 after purchasing an additional 108,407 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Ciena Stock Down 2.0 %
NYSE CIEN traded down $1.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $86.66. The stock had a trading volume of 1,093,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,858,035. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $91.82. The stock has a market cap of $12.32 billion, a PE ratio of 92.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95.
Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.
Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 buy up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report 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 objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Northland Securities boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Ciena
Insider Activity at Ciena
In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 directly owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,489 shares of company stock worth $772,026 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.
Ciena Profile
(
Free Report)
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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