Natixis Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 25.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 138,647 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 47,269 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Ciena worth $8,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 394.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 554 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 66.7% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $92.72 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The stock has a market cap of $13.11 billion, a PE ratio of 128.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.16. 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 (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Ciena had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 5.08%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Ciena's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CIEN. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares in the company, valued at $16,175,434.10. This trade represents a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total transaction of $559,164.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 325,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,770,552.11. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,469 shares of company stock valued at $2,817,891. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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