Cwm LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Cwm LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 122.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,499 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,938 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 215.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,651 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $285,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 25.2% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 32,666 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,012,000 after buying an additional 6,579 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division raised its stake in Ciena by 4.1% in the third quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 11,792 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the second quarter worth about $221,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.08.

Ciena Trading Down 2.7 %

Ciena stock opened at $65.87 on Wednesday. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $69.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $57.62 and its 200 day moving average is $51.33. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.47 billion, a PE ratio of 63.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena 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.