Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Lmcg Investments LLC

Lmcg Investments LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 167,603 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,365 shares during the period. Ciena makes up about 0.9% of Lmcg Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Lmcg Investments LLC owned 0.12% of Ciena worth $14,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter valued at approximately $5,039,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,988,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 119.6% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,781 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,500. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $84.96 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 149.06, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.89. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $91.82. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $78.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.84. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

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.