Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Acquires 2,026 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,862 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,026 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after acquiring an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $245,000. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $421,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $755,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Northland Securities raised shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four research 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Ciena Trading Down 4.7 %

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $53.53 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $43.30 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 93.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $75.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.08. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513. Company 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.