Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,956 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,966 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 76,082 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,424,000 after buying an additional 2,420 shares during the period. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. raised its stake in Ciena by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 5,929 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. LHM Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $767,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 11,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $48.95 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $49.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.41. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. The company has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.79, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.00.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.79.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,052,464.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total value of $175,665.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 230,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,543,750.19. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares in the company, valued at $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,351 shares of company stock worth $1,921,835 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.