Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Purchased by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 176.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,591 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 6,116 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Ciena by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,897 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,705,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Evercore ISI restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ciena from $44.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.15.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $79.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,821,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,085,534. 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 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $73.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.19. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 110.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. The trade was a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total value of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 348,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,853,731.20. This represents a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,638 shares of company stock valued at $3,345,797 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

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.