Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 826.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 98,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,953 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 1,961,513 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 17.2% in 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 buying an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,941,419 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $69.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.16, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.43. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena 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 directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena 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.