Peregrine Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 200,369 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 13,672 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned 0.14% of Ciena worth $12,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Ciena by 108.6% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 328.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised 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 valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $1.86 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $81.38. The stock had a trading volume of 1,082,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,109,931. The stock's 50 day moving average is $76.39 and its 200 day moving average is $76.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a PE ratio of 113.03, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $44.89 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.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, 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 transaction of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 348,480 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,853,731.20. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.50, for a total value of $187,162.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 84,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,829,056.50. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CIEN. Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup lowered their price target 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. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Northland Securities set a $100.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $84.31.

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.