Peregrine Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 247,630 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 42,341 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned 0.17% of Ciena worth $11,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 28,651 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 11.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 17,204 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,708 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Ciena by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,296 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,227,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Ciena by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,753,752 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $106,335,000 after purchasing an additional 41,815 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Ciena by 40.6% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 19,106 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total value of $210,632.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 494,844 shares in the company, valued at $25,019,312.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total transaction of $3,833,044.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,006 shares in the company, valued at $22,942,964.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $210,632.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 494,844 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,019,312.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 107,533 shares of company stock worth $5,808,540. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ciena from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $60.17.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,374,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,069,273. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $63.24. The business's 50 day moving average price is $53.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.28. The company has a market cap of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.