Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 5,435 Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Madison Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 11.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,102 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 5,435 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $2,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Ciena by 73.1% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 36,968 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,135,000 after acquiring an additional 15,612 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,792,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,485,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Ciena by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,225,000 after acquiring an additional 14,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $199,825.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 42,269 shares of company stock valued at $3,306,811 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $1.40 on Friday, hitting $88.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,115,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,030,458. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The stock has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.88. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. 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 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.