Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 12,494 Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 25.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,446 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,494 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust grew its position in Ciena by 23.9% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,168 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Ciena by 16.3% in the first quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 9,765 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ciena by 9.3% in the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 40,391 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,440,000 after acquiring an additional 3,441 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Ciena by 15.0% in the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 149,914 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $9,059,000 after acquiring an additional 19,500 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC grew its position in Ciena by 15.5% in the first quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 19,156 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 2,566 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $199,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,522,472. The trade was a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,269 shares of company stock valued at $3,306,811 in the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Ciena stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $85.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,162,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,163,545. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.02 and a 200 day moving average of $75.72. The company has a market capitalization of $12.07 billion, a PE ratio of 118.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.54.

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.