Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 280,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Ciena worth $17,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.2% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Seizert Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,103,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,416,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 549.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 128,392 shares during the period. Finally, Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,304,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $70.13 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.28. 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 cap of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.61, a PEG ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its 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. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.