Harbour Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,710 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,235 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% in 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 period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $81.57. The stock had a trading volume of 712,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,730,474. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $91.82. 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 market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $76.79 and a 200 day moving average of $63.29.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,131 shares of company stock worth $3,924,465. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.