Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 23.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 370,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $22,788,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 4.6% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 5.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in Ciena by 4.1% during the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 11,792 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CIEN. Barclays upped their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ciena from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $66.05 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $69.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.51, a P/E/G ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Ciena

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.