Eventide Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 36,521 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,249,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position 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 valued at $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,743,000 after buying an additional 301,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after buying an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $69.79 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $73.47. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.86. The company has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.25, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has initiated a share 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 often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by 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.