DDD Partners LLC Lowers Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

DDD Partners LLC trimmed its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 10.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 110,476 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 13,517 shares during the period. DDD Partners LLC owned 0.08% of Ciena worth $6,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Ciena by 108.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Ciena by 328.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. 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 report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total value of $488,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,522,472. This trade represents a 1.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total transaction of $187,162.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,747,647 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $84.71. The company had a trading volume of 999,580 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,151,735. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $44.89 and a one year high of $101.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.83. The company has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a PE ratio of 117.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast 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.