XTX Topco Ltd Makes New $627,000 Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,177 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $627,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $98,743,000 after purchasing an additional 301,390 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $5.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.72. 6,666,214 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,848,684. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.89, a PEG ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $42.20 and a twelve month high of $91.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051 in the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.