Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Maverick Capital Ltd.

Maverick Capital Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 628 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 428.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,705,000 after purchasing an additional 718,551 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,416,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,403,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % 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 David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at $11,552,877.04. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $69.79 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $73.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $66.25 and a 200-day moving average of $55.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of 74.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.94. 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 (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

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.