Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by DDD Partners LLC

DDD Partners LLC lowered its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 304,783 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,259 shares during the quarter. Ciena accounts for about 1.8% of DDD Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. DDD Partners LLC owned 0.21% of Ciena worth $13,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Ciena by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,296 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 28,651 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 2.8% during the third quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 9,774 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 1.0% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 28,563 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,214,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 3.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 8,321 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ciena from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 8th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.71.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total transaction of $175,665.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 230,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,543,750.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total value of $3,833,044.18. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total transaction of $175,665.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 230,001 shares in the company, valued at $11,543,750.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 116,574 shares of company stock valued at $6,190,306 in the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $50.47 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $53.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current 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.