Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Trims Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lessened its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 44.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,743 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,028 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Ciena by 409.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,435,197.48. The trade was a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 63,442 shares of company stock valued at $5,337,764 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $68.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 120.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $84.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.14. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.