Paloma Partners Management Co Raises Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Paloma Partners Management Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 283.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,970 shares during the quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings 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 during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Ciena by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,572 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 854 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $69.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $73.47. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.47 and a 200-day moving average of $56.05. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 74.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.