Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 672,060 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $56,997,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned approximately 0.47% of Ciena as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 241.5% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,581 shares of company stock valued at $4,875,548. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.77.

Ciena Stock Down 3.6 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $89.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.04 and a 200-day moving average of $68.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of 157.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.88. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44.

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

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.