Ausbil Investment Management Ltd Takes $585,000 Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,679 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth approximately $2,398,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,792,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Ciena by 70.2% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,222 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ciena from $44.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.15.

Ciena Trading Up 1.0%

CIEN opened at $74.56 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $44.89 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.16.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. The business's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.54, for a total value of $404,872.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 375,680 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,367,987.20. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,638 shares of company stock valued at $3,345,797. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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