New York Life Investment Management LLC Takes $1.29 Million Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 15,222 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $243,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in Ciena by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 68,806 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,835,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Coyle Financial Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,846,000. Capital Investment Counsel Inc bought a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter worth approximately $254,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Ciena by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 39,062 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,313,000 after buying an additional 7,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN opened at $74.72 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $43.30 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a PE ratio of 131.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $85.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.65.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $1,137,776.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,618,161.34. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.77.

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.