Polar Capital Holdings Plc Acquires 1,154,260 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 113.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,154,260 shares during the quarter. Ciena comprises 1.0% of Polar Capital Holdings Plc's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Polar Capital Holdings Plc owned 1.53% of Ciena worth $183,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,299,004,000 after buying an additional 139,941 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $444,143,000 after buying an additional 17,447 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Ciena by 195.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $392,345,000 after buying an additional 3,062,883 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $273,684,000 after buying an additional 49,996 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $205,301,000 after buying an additional 11,933 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $172,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 207,370 shares in the company, valued at $14,283,645.60. This represents a 1.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total value of $27,534.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 46,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,637,150.11. This represents a 0.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 52,138 shares of company stock valued at $3,439,211 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Northland Securities upgraded Ciena from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.62.

Ciena Stock Up 1.8%

NYSE:CIEN traded up $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $81.22. 1,271,816 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,035,491. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $44.69 and a twelve month 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 50 day moving average of $65.40 and a 200 day moving average of $74.63. The stock has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a PE ratio of 142.49, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11.

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.