Pacer Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Ciena Corporation by 86.5%, selling 21,223 shares in the first quarter and now owning 3,321 shares worth $201,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have changed their positions in Ciena, including Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, which acquired a new stake valued at approximately $219,000.
• Analysts have set varied price targets for Ciena, with Citigroup lowering its target from $98.00 to $75.00, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased it from $83.00 to $105.00.

Pacer Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 86.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,321 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 21,223 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $1,450,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $973,000. Oak Thistle LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 57.4% in the 1st quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 14,012 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,112 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $6,924,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth $1,137,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Down 4.6%

NYSE:CIEN traded down $4.29 on Friday, reaching $88.55. 2,151,918 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,962,251. The company has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.99, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 3.40, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $80.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.11.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities increased 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. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target 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 issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $85.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. This trade represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total transaction of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,817,891. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.