Citigroup Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Citigroup Inc. reduced its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 212,032 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,858 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned 0.14% of Ciena worth $11,136,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 173,602 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $9,118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 109,706 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,762,000 after acquiring an additional 6,321 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $408,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 18,676 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $981,000 after acquiring an additional 10,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. boosted its position in Ciena by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 30,940 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 5,832 shares in the last quarter. 90.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Scott Mcfeely sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $88,180.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 96,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,242,780.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Andrew C. Petrik sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $44,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 27,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,200,658.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Scott Mcfeely sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $88,180.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 96,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,242,780.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,541 shares of company stock worth $1,375,010. Insiders own 0.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $42.83 on Wednesday. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $38.33 and a twelve month high of $54.25. The firm has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.04 and a 200 day moving average of $45.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.02% and a return on equity of 9.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Ciena from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $57.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $74.00 to $66.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.88.

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, IP routing, and switching services.