Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,933 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $205,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,997,000. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,341,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 4,484.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 529,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,912,000 after purchasing an additional 518,003 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth $40,919,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 263.7% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,325,000 after purchasing an additional 336,180 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total transaction of $579,972.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 418,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,732,160.21. This represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,288 shares of company stock worth $3,484,670 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on CIEN shares. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Trading Down 4.7 %

Ciena stock opened at $53.53 on Monday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.40 and its 200-day moving average is $74.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The company has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.91, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15.

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.