Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 33,937 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,763 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 41,326 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $661,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 valued at $72,223,000 after acquiring an additional 181,358 shares during the period. Capital Fund Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,135,000 after acquiring an additional 90,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at $1,587,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $66.69 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $54.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a PE ratio of 64.12, a P/E/G ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $66.78.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at $10,368,269.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953 in the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, B. Riley reduced their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.00.

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.