9,434 Shares in Ciena Corporation $CIEN Purchased by United Services Automobile Association

Key Points

• The United Services Automobile Association acquired 9,434 shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN), valued at approximately $581,000, in the first quarter.
• Institutional investors now own 91.99% of Ciena's stock, indicating a strong interest from major financial organizations.
• Analysts have given Ciena a consensus target price of $114.32, with a mix of ratings including two "Strong Buy" and eight "Buy" designations.

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,434 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $581,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at $219,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 40.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter valued at about $2,398,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ciena by 50.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 28.6% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 48,879 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,954,000 after purchasing an additional 10,856 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.94, for a total transaction of $31,829.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 43,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,934,791.92. The trade was a 0.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at $28,358,240.01. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,769 shares of company stock worth $3,326,705. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. B. Riley reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $113.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $100.00 to $127.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.32.

Ciena Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded down $1.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $131.15. 2,778,000 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,736,332. The company has a quick ratio of 2.52, a current ratio of 3.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business's 50 day moving average is $93.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.50 billion, a PE ratio of 135.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.16. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $134.31.

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.