Yousif Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 70,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 608 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $101,000. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 74.5% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Operose Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 19.0% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. PFG Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $161,000. Finally, Claret Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total value of $175,665.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 230,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,543,750.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total transaction of $3,833,044.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 424,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total transaction of $175,665.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 230,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,543,750.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $46.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.22. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.29 and a quick ratio of 3.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.79.

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, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.