Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 68,720 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,828,000. Ciena comprises about 2.1% of Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 409.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $65.84 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.48. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 115.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

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.