Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,506 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,473 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $1,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 5.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE CIEN traded up $1.59 during trading on Friday, reaching $71.91. 2,277,069 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,707,360. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $72.36. The stock has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 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. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.79.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Ciena's revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share 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 buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ciena

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.