Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Sora Investors LLC

Sora Investors LLC decreased its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 100,000 shares during the quarter. Sora Investors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,159,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Ciena by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 105,774 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $6,515,000 after acquiring an additional 3,153 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 11.9% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 20,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $57,861,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 1.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $72.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.84, a PEG ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 0.95. 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 fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $73.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $67.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.38.

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.