Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,822 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,861,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,997,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,403,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,919,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Ciena by 263.7% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,325,000 after buying an additional 336,180 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $65.47 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.86, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.60. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total value of $443,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 391,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,534,199.82. This trade represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,300,073.92. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.