Xponance Inc. Lowers Position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Xponance Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 15.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,829 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 2,993 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in shares of Ciena by 1.1% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 31,897 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,705,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.23, for a total value of $559,164.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 325,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,770,552.11. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,269 shares of company stock valued at $3,306,811. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CIEN. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Monday, June 30th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wolfe Research raised Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.54.

Ciena Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $85.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,784,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,167,564. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.89 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company's fifty day moving average price is $79.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.77. The stock has a market cap of $12.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.10, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.11.

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

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.