Advisors Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 44.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,109 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth about $70,065,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 113.7% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,987,000 after buying an additional 1,154,260 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter valued at $12,973,000. Analog Century Management LP boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 33.0% during the first quarter. Analog Century Management LP now owns 841,311 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $50,840,000 after buying an additional 208,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 8,381.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 178,873 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,809,000 after buying an additional 176,764 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $132.72 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $92.98 and a 200 day moving average of $78.50. The company has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of 136.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.16. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $134.31. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Ciena from $100.00 to $127.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ciena from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.32.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,769 shares of company stock valued at $3,326,705. 0.93% of the stock is owned by 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.