Lisanti Capital Growth LLC Raises Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Lisanti Capital Growth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 162.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,465 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 8,945 shares during the quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CIEN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,299,004,000 after buying an additional 139,941 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $444,143,000 after acquiring an additional 17,447 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ciena by 195.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $392,345,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,883 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Ciena by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,227,020 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $273,684,000 after purchasing an additional 49,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $205,301,000 after purchasing an additional 11,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total transaction of $199,825.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total value of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 348,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,853,731.20. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,794 shares of company stock valued at $2,381,656. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ciena from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.15.

Ciena Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $81.12. The stock had a trading volume of 1,064,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,098,653. The business's 50 day moving average is $75.64 and its 200-day moving average is $76.26. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.89 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $11.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.88, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict 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.