Granahan Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Granahan Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 216,630 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,016 shares during the quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Ciena worth $11,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Future Fund LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Future Fund LLC now owns 6,152 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,136,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,296 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 26,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 28,651 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,049 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,683,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CIEN. Raymond James cut their price target on Ciena from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Ciena from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, September 1st. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Ciena from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $65.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Ciena from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.35.

Ciena Stock Up 0.2 %

Ciena stock opened at $48.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a current ratio of 3.95. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $38.33 and a fifty-two week high of $54.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. Ciena had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 5.23%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Andrew C. Petrik sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $44,090.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 27,232 shares in the company, valued at $1,200,658.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Andrew C. Petrik sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.09, for a total transaction of $44,090.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 27,232 shares in the company, valued at $1,200,658.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.26, for a total value of $147,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 232,317 shares in the company, valued at $9,817,716.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,207 shares of company stock worth $1,603,269 over the last three months. 0.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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, IP routing, and switching services.