Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,475 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at $261,000. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 549.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after purchasing an additional 128,392 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.3% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $65.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.30 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.48. The firm has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.52, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total transaction of $443,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 391,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,534,199.82. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,742 shares of company stock valued at $5,469,173 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena 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.