Pacer Advisors Inc. Has $201,000 Stock 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. lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 86.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,321 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 21,223 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 195.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,626,153 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $392,345,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,883 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake 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 worth $273,684,000 after buying an additional 49,996 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 11,933 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its stake in Ciena by 113.7% during the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 2,169,406 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $183,987,000 after buying an additional 1,154,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Ciena by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,238,284 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $105,019,000 after buying an additional 257,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 2.4%

NYSE:CIEN traded up $2.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $93.67. 690,180 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,307,402. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $46.51 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.40 and a quick ratio of 2.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $81.18 and a 200 day moving average of $76.27. The stock has a market cap of $13.24 billion, a PE ratio of 130.06, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.11.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 202,370 shares in the company, valued at $16,175,434.10. This represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company'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 value of $166,872.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 47,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 35,469 shares of company stock worth $2,817,891. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price target (down previously from $73.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.54.

Ciena Company 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.