Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC Invests $254,000 in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,991 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 59.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 152.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $79.49 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44. The company has a market cap of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of 139.45, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $85.85 and a 200-day moving average of $72.19.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,197.48. The trade was a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.77.

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.