Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 482,480 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,919,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of Ciena at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 32.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,715 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,091,000 after buying an additional 4,344 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Ciena by 68.5% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 7,988 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 3,246 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $148,348,000 after purchasing an additional 33,074 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 75.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,315 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.8% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 403,490 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,851,000 after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $59.40 on Wednesday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.97. The firm has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of 104.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,601.52. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 42,138 shares of company stock worth $2,874,629. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CIEN shares. Northland Securities raised shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.62.

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.