Bryce Point Capital LLC Takes Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,736 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $911,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,299,004,000 after buying an additional 139,941 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Ciena by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $444,143,000 after acquiring an additional 17,447 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Ciena by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $273,427,000 after acquiring an additional 53,078 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $205,301,000 after acquiring an additional 11,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total value of $579,972.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 418,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,732,160.21. The trade was a 1.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total transaction of $30,068.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. The trade was a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CIEN. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $65.03 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.23. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

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.