Schroder Investment Management Group Trims Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Schroder Investment Management Group decreased its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,238,020 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 257,615 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.87% of Ciena worth $105,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ciena by 328.2% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Ciena by 409.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 price target (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Down 2.2 %

CIEN opened at $61.50 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.90, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $78.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.21. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total transaction of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,560 shares of company stock valued at $5,406,323 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.93% 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.