Victory Capital Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 79.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 376,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,494,811 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.26% of Ciena worth $31,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 3.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,469 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,914 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,618,161.34. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.62.

Ciena Trading Up 0.5 %

CIEN stock opened at $68.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.14. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.62, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. Ciena’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.