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

Boston Partners decreased its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 213,367 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 16,004 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Ciena were worth $10,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding S.A. now owns 5,021,719 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $226,028,000 after buying an additional 368,897 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Ciena by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,513,633 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,149,000 after acquiring an additional 791,215 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,162,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $97,331,000 after purchasing an additional 332,181 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,476,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $3.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.12. 1,933,245 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,164,320. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $39.94 and a twelve month high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a current ratio of 3.88. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.10. The firm has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $895.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley raised Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at $10,368,269.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,368,269.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,832 shares of company stock worth $769,636 in the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.