Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Penserra Capital Management LLC

Penserra Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 84.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,359 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 157,590 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 1,171.4% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 41,326 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $661,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,039,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,223,000 after buying an additional 181,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $1,988,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on CIEN shares. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $70.13 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.48 and its 200-day moving average is $55.52. The stock has a market cap of $10.13 billion, a PE ratio of 74.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $42.20 and a twelve month high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’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 transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051 over the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.