AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 428.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 718,551 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $42,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Ciena by 1,944.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth $48,214,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 118.7% in the first quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP now owns 1,524,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $75,378,000 after acquiring an additional 827,352 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CIEN. Barclays increased their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

Insider Activity

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

Ciena Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $61.81 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $53.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.02. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $63.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94.

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

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.