Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $8,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 854 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Barclays upped their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Ciena Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of CIEN opened at $66.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 70.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.82. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $73.47.

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

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.