Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $20.49 Million Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 30.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 332,668 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 148,817 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Ciena worth $20,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 339.5% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN stock traded down $1.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $69.88. 885,248 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,804,003. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a PE ratio of 76.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.32. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

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

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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 that occurred 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating 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. 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. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Ciena 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.