Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 30,113 Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Mutual of America Capital Management LLC has reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation by 28.2% in the 1st quarter, now owning approximately $4.6 million worth of shares.
• Ciena missed analyst earnings expectations with a reported EPS of $0.42 against a forecast of $0.50, although the company experienced a 23.6% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• Analysts have varying price targets for Ciena, with Citigroup lowering its target from $98.00 to $75.00, while Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to a "strong-buy."

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 28.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,529 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 30,113 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Ciena worth $4,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $219,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 40.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Ciena in the first quarter valued at $2,398,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 70.2% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,222 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $199,825.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,469 shares of company stock valued at $2,817,891 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $1.64 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $93.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,409,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,296,990. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $48.36 and a one year high of $101.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.23. The company has a market cap of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 129.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The company's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Ciena Company 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.