LHM Inc. Raises Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

LHM Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 22.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,512 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,455 shares during the quarter. Ciena makes up approximately 1.1% of LHM Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. LHM Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,086,000. Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $339,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 959.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 77,780 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,767,000 after buying an additional 70,436 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Ciena by 52.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,737 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after buying an additional 2,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Ciena by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 81,232 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,914,000 after buying an additional 1,869 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.15.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $57.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.75, a P/E/G ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $52.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.82. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total transaction of $130,962.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total transaction of $130,962.48. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,635,840. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 9,712 shares of company stock valued at $498,637. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.