Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Holdings Lifted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 139,941 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.11% of Ciena worth $1,299,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $57,861,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $56,997,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,919,000. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in Ciena by 263.7% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,325,000 after purchasing an additional 336,180 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in Ciena by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 799,546 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $67,810,000 after buying an additional 143,350 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CIEN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $62.75 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The company has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 110.08, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $79.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.85.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $172,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 207,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,283,645.60. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,560 shares of company stock valued at $5,406,323 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.