Primecap Management Co. CA Buys 336,180 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 263.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 336,180 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA owned about 0.33% of Ciena worth $39,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Ciena in the third quarter valued at about $261,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 549.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 128,392 shares in the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 1.2% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 156.3% in the third quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 6,960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $64.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $81.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.53. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a PE ratio of 112.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total value of $235,050.48. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,197.48. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,453,129.09. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,942 shares of company stock valued at $5,025,949. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.