QRG Capital Management Inc. Makes New $289,000 Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 4,686 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.6% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ciena by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Ciena by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $72.04 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.03. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $42.20 and a 12 month high of $73.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock worth $568,123. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.