2,888 Shares in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Acquired by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,888 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $3.59 on Thursday, hitting $98.44. The company had a trading volume of 7,145,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,268,974. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $100.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.48 and a 200-day moving average of $65.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 172.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.89.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. Ciena's revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total transaction of $579,972.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 418,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,732,160.21. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500 in the last quarter. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. 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 research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $77.00.

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.