Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 680,837 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,777 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC owned about 0.48% of Ciena worth $41,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its position in shares of Ciena by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,897 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,705,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total value of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 348,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,853,731.20. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199 in the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Trading Down 0.6%

Ciena stock traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $77.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,638,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,139,086. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $44.89 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $78.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.85. The firm has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.08.

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.