Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Decreases Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund trimmed its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 76.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,584 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 18,616 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Ciena were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 949,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,736,000 after purchasing an additional 18,860 shares in the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,135,000 after purchasing an additional 90,610 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth $73,476,000. Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $1,587,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ciena by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,162,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $97,331,000 after buying an additional 332,181 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. B. Riley cut their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.25.

Ciena Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $49.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.76. The company has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.90, a PEG ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.02.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $895.80 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,601.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,601.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at $10,368,269.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,832 shares of company stock valued at $769,636. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.