New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 36.8%, ending the quarter with 56,820 shares valued at approximately $3.43 million.
• Institutional investors hold a significant majority, owning 91.99% of Ciena's stock, with several firms, including Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD, significantly increasing their stakes.
• Despite a revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year, Ciena reported an EPS of $0.42 for the last quarter, missing analysts' estimates of $0.50.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC reduced its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 36.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 56,820 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 33,082 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG purchased a new position in Ciena in the first quarter worth about $10,458,000. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,882,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,868 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the first quarter worth approximately $439,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in Ciena by 5.0% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,978 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $663,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. This trade represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,817,891. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $95.11. 2,021,349 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,800,903. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $13.45 billion, a PE ratio of 132.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $81.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.51. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $47.96 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share 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 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 for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.