Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Ciena were worth $130,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1,171.4% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 41,326 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the second quarter worth approximately $661,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $72,223,000 after purchasing an additional 181,358 shares in the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. lifted its stake in 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $73,476,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $58.73 on Monday. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The firm has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.47, a P/E/G ratio of 6.86 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.66 and a 200-day moving average of $49.68.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,712 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.29, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,712 shares of company stock valued at $498,637. Corporate 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.