Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 71,243 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,305,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned approximately 0.05% of Ciena at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 328.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 66.7% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,325 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $6,829,056.50. The trade was a 2.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.93, for a total value of $199,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 202,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,175,434.10. The trade was a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,269 shares of company stock worth $3,306,811 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Up 0.7%

CIEN traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $87.34. 960,319 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,352,675. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.89 and a 1-year high of $101.44. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $79.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Ciena to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $85.54.

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.