Eventide Asset Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 36,521 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,249,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Ciena by 28.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,951 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 25.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 541,097 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,326,000 after buying an additional 110,789 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Ciena by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 34,198 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,336 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,334,290,000 after buying an additional 108,407 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 44.0% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 48,883 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,021,000 after acquiring an additional 14,946 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 0.9 %

Ciena stock opened at $69.79 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $73.47. The company has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 4.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.86.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.