Neo Ivy Capital Management Invests $1.45 Million in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Neo Ivy Capital Management has acquired a new position in Ciena Corporation, purchasing 23,996 shares valued at approximately $1,450,000.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Ciena, with JPMorgan Chase setting a target price at $105.00 while Morgan Stanley lowered its target to $70.00.
• Ciena's latest earnings report showed a revenue of $1.13 billion, up 23.6% year-over-year, despite missing earnings per share estimates.

Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 23,996 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,450,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 21,943 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,861,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $3,792,000 after buying an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $2,485,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 38,023 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,225,000 after acquiring an additional 14,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,299,004,000 after acquiring an additional 139,941 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% 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 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,770,552.11. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,269 shares of company stock worth $3,306,811 over the last 90 days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $1.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $91.67. The company had a trading volume of 849,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,330,505. The company's fifty day moving average is $79.86 and its 200 day moving average is $75.90. 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 fifty-two week low of $44.89 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 127.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. Ciena's quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $83.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.54.

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.