Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. lowered its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 157,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 24,006 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.11% of Ciena worth $13,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Ciena by 409.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 59.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total value of $579,972.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 418,949 shares in the company, valued at $35,732,160.21. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,560 shares of company stock valued at $5,406,323. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Down 2.2 %

Ciena stock opened at $61.50 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.30 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $78.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

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.