Virtu Financial LLC Acquires New Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 36,930 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,132,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Ciena by 409.8% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $65.47 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.48. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $35,618,161.34. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at $9,300,073.92. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

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.