36,930 Shares in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Bought by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 36,930 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,132,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,861,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $56,997,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $35,403,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth about $40,919,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 263.7% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,325,000 after acquiring an additional 336,180 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CIEN. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $89.00 price target (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.38.

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Ciena Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of Ciena stock traded down $3.61 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $65.81. 2,278,942 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,912,502. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $79.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.93. The firm has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $1,137,776.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 425,749 shares of the company's stock, valued at $35,618,161.34. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 69,242 shares of company stock valued at $5,641,373 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% 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.