Tredje AP fonden Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Tredje AP fonden purchased a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,272,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ciena by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $148,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $245,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $421,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,988,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,197.48. This represents a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,442 shares of company stock valued at $5,337,764 in the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Citigroup raised their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

Ciena Trading Up 2.5 %

CIEN opened at $63.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.19. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.