Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,173 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $261,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 549.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $9,346,000 after purchasing an additional 128,392 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 156.3% during the 3rd quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 6,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total transaction of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % 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 Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,300,073.92. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 59,942 shares of company stock worth $5,025,949 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $64.28 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $81.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.53. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.77, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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.