Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Trims Stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 823,081 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 58,050 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.58% of Ciena worth $49,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ciena by 328.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 42,269 shares of company stock valued at $3,306,811. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.54.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN traded up $0.59 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.34. 1,708,740 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,101,965. The company has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.30, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $44.89 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $79.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.88.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company 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 business's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.