Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 28.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,305 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 3,668 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $562,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $2,398,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 50.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,792,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Ciena by 70.2% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,222 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of Ciena 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% 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, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,919 shares of company stock valued at $3,115,199. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of CIEN stock traded down $0.46 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,638,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,139,086. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The company has a market capitalization of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $78.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.76. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Evercore ISI restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. One 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.08.

About Ciena

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.