CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong Takes Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 60,853 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,748,000. Ciena accounts for about 0.2% of CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 17.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $71.44 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.14 and its 200-day moving average is $54.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $42.20 and a 12-month high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.