Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stake Lowered by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 15.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 357,448 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 63,453 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned approximately 0.25% of Ciena worth $29,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Ciena by 107.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,593 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 82.5% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Up 2.6%

CIEN opened at $205.56 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $214.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.99 billion, a PE ratio of 211.91, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $175.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.75.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,358,240.01. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total value of $262,943.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 51,935 shares of company stock valued at $8,029,442 over the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $141.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research downgraded Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $153.20.

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.