DDD Partners LLC Sells 3,259 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

DDD Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 304,783 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,259 shares during the quarter. Ciena accounts for about 1.8% of DDD Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. DDD Partners LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $13,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 849 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $101,000. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Ciena by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,450 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co lifted its stake in Ciena by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 8th. 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 research report on Friday, February 23rd. 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 research report on Tuesday, March 5th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 9,574 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total value of $426,330.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 105,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,694,085.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 9,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.53, for a total transaction of $426,330.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 105,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,694,085.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.04, for a total transaction of $187,636.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 499,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,475,410.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,574 shares of company stock valued at $6,190,306. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $50.47 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24. The stock has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.99 and a 200 day moving average of $48.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.29 and a quick ratio of 3.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period last year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 EPS 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.