Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Front Street Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Front Street Capital Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation by 9.7%, owning approximately $6.07 million worth of shares, making it the firm's 22nd largest holding.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their positions in Ciena, with Nuveen LLC acquiring a new stake valued at about $70 million in the 1st quarter.
• Ciena reported Q2 earnings of $0.42 per share, which fell short of analysts' expectations of $0.50, despite revenue growing by 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Front Street Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,372 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 10,726 shares during the period. Ciena accounts for 1.2% of Front Street Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Front Street Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of Ciena worth $6,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CIEN. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 157.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 111,536 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $9,459,000 after buying an additional 68,285 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,139 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,454,000 after buying an additional 7,440 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 60.3% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 12,745 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,081,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,804 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,680,000 after buying an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 171.1% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. B. Riley reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.32.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. This trade represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,769 shares of company stock worth $3,326,705. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN traded down $1.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $131.05. The company had a trading volume of 1,398,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,348,102. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.50. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.07, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.16. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $134.31.

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.