Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Providence Capital Advisors LLC

Providence Capital Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 84,249 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 29,798 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $5,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 241.5% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,424 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This trade represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051 over the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Ciena Stock Down 2.4 %

CIEN stock opened at $69.17 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of 73.59, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $42.20 and a 12 month high of $73.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.