Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 178,137 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,871,327 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 178,137 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 1.30% of Ciena worth $115,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted 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 valued at $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth approximately $48,214,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.7% during the first quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 1,524,332 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $75,378,000 after purchasing an additional 827,352 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $71.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,695,491 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,382. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.00, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year high of $73.47. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $63.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.32.

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

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CIEN shares. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. 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, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

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.