Axa S.A. Decreases Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

AXA S.A. reduced its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 479,935 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 54,187 shares during the period. AXA S.A. owned about 0.34% of Ciena worth $40,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,109 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $235,000. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in Ciena by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,279 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays set a $100.00 price target on Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note 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.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.62.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $488,920.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 368,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,522,472. The trade was a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. This represents a 0.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,288 shares of company stock worth $3,211,852 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Trading Down 0.2 %

Ciena stock traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $72.77. The company had a trading volume of 1,157,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,022,785. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.94. The firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $44.69 and a 12-month high of $101.44.

Ciena 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.