Westpac Banking Corp Acquires Shares of 21,191 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,191 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,797,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Ciena by 328.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Ciena by 409.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 394.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 554 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $8.00 on Wednesday, reaching $62.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,358,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,016,962. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $72.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.05. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total value of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total value of $579,972.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 418,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,732,160.21. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock valued at $3,484,670 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.38.

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.