Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Lowers Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,992 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $101,000. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 35.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,450 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 74.7% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 3,274 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 74.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $142,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 617,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,010,628. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.06 and a 200 day moving average of $48.19. The stock has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a PE ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 4.29, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total transaction of $144,355.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,561.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.