Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by Creative Planning

Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,799 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Ciena were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ciena by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after buying an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the first 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 acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 17.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,743,000 after acquiring an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 7,767.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note 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. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’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 value of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $65.87 on Wednesday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $69.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.33. The firm has a market cap 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 earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast 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 plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Ciena

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.