Lumbard & Kellner LLC Raises Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Lumbard & Kellner LLC boosted its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 65,799 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,170,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Ciena by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,513,633 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $158,149,000 after purchasing an additional 791,215 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $130,392,000 after acquiring an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,743,000 after acquiring an additional 301,390 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 1,709,023 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $82,341,000 after purchasing an additional 56,513 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value of $130,962.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,635,840. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CIEN. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.15.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $56.45 on Wednesday. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $63.24. 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.28, a P/E/G ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average of $51.88 and a 200-day moving average of $49.80.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.