PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 23.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,506 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,821 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Ciena by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 50,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,089,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $261,000. Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,304,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 549.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 128,392 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,416,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of CIEN opened at $63.84 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.42. The company has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $43.30 and a 1-year high of $101.44.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Dino Diperna sold 2,682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.64, for a total transaction of $235,050.48. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,607 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,197.48. This trade represents a 5.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,942 shares of company stock worth $5,025,949 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (down from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

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.