Perpetual Ltd Has $13.99 Million Holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 34.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 231,486 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 123,260 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd owned 0.16% of Ciena worth $13,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth about $2,398,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $3,792,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 70.2% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,222 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $44.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Evercore ISI reissued a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $83.15.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.79 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.30. 3,397,424 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,103,671. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $75.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The firm has a market cap of $11.63 billion, a PE ratio of 114.31, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 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 the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The firm's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $488,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 368,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,522,472. The trade was a 1.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total value of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,638 shares of company stock worth $3,345,797 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

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.