First Manhattan CO. LLC. Trims Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lowered its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 84,044 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $7,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Greenleaf Trust grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 4,978 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 49,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,288 shares of company stock worth $3,211,852 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $74.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a PE ratio of 131.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $64.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.05. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $44.69 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $77.62.

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.