KBC Group NV Buys 488 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 50,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1,944.4% in 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 buying an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $94,742,000 after buying an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Ciena in the first quarter valued at about $48,214,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP increased 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 3.6 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $67.22 on Monday. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $42.20 and a twelve month high of $73.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.46 and a beta of 0.94. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.69.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123 in the last ninety days. 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.