Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by First Business Financial Services Inc.

First Business Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,474 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Ciena by 409.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Ciena by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total transaction of $478,046.72. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at $30,453,129.09. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Up 1.3 %

CIEN opened at $75.25 on Thursday. 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 capitalization of $10.73 billion, a PE ratio of 132.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.31 and its 200-day moving average is $72.80. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.77.

Ciena Company Profile

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.