AXQ Capital LP Invests $444,000 in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,239 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $261,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 7.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 127,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,853,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 955,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,850,000 after purchasing an additional 6,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 0.2 %

Ciena stock opened at $65.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.60. The firm has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a PE ratio of 114.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CIEN. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.18, for a total value of $443,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 391,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,534,199.82. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,742 shares of company stock valued at $5,469,173. 0.93% of the stock is 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.