Flputnam Investment Management Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 35,280 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the period. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,992,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Ciena by 409.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Ciena by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9 %

Ciena stock opened at $79.49 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $85.85 and a 200 day moving average of $72.35. 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 data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.77.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. The trade was a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,642 shares of company stock worth $4,818,176 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.