Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires 1,374 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 87.0% during the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 50,597 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,407,000 after buying an additional 23,544 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 949,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,736,000 after purchasing an additional 18,860 shares in the last quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. raised its position in Ciena by 34.4% in the third quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 352,727 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,670,000 after purchasing an additional 90,206 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,585 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $833,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Fund Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,135,000 after purchasing an additional 90,610 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,601.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $199,926.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,881,601.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,340,561.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 21,641 shares of company stock valued at $1,031,032. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.25.

Ciena Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $47.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.53, a PEG ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.99. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $63.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a current ratio of 3.88.

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

Ciena Company 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.