Rockland Trust Co. Purchases Shares of 4,628 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Rockland Trust Co. bought a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 4,628 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Ciena by 339.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $1.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.69. The company had a trading volume of 2,110,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,806,516. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.21 and a 200 day moving average of $50.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.13, a P/E/G ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $66.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06.

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

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

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock worth $502,953 over the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.00.

Ciena Company 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.