Ethic Inc. Takes Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Ethic Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,571 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $727,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $245,000. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $421,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $755,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 38,350 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,252,000 after purchasing an additional 5,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total value of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock valued at $3,211,852. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a 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. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.62.

Ciena Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $79.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $44.69 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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.

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