American International Group Inc. Sells 10,915 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

American International Group Inc. lessened its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 199,705 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 10,915 shares during the quarter. American International Group Inc. owned 0.14% of Ciena worth $8,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $61,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at $101,000. Operose Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 19.0% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $154,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,252,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,252,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total transaction of $144,355.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,340,561.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,641 shares of company stock valued at $1,031,032. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $46.58 on Wednesday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24. The company has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.79, a PEG ratio of 4.58 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.39 and a 200 day moving average of $49.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.76.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The company had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $895.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Raymond James lowered shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $59.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.25.

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.