Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $96.26 Million Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,138,691 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 128,603 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $96,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 87.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 50,597 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after acquiring an additional 23,544 shares during the period. DigitalBridge Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 352,727 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,670,000 after acquiring an additional 90,206 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,585 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $833,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $483,000. Finally, Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,883,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total value of $473,757.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 415,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,635,223.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,052,464.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total transaction of $473,757.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 415,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,635,223.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,351 shares of company stock valued at $1,921,835. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.79.

Ciena Stock Performance

CIEN opened at $47.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.29 and a quick ratio of 3.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.26. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The firm has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.85, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. Ciena’s revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena Company 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.