Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Riverwater Partners LLC

Riverwater Partners LLC cut its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,604 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 246 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,951 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 178,956.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 28,649 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after acquiring an additional 28,633 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 6.3% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 45,426 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $269,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 11.9% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 20,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $53.53 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.08. The company has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $101.44.

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.