Alliancebernstein L.P. Raises Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 443,333 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,079 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.31% of Ciena worth $37,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in Ciena by 28.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,951 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 45,426 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,777,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $269,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Ciena by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 20,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after buying an additional 2,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Ciena by 3.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 105,774 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,515,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities raised shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $53.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 93.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.40 and its 200-day moving average is $74.21. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

About Ciena

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.