Impax Asset Management Group plc Increases Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,064 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 63,000 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned 0.24% of Ciena worth $15,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Ciena by 912.1% during the 2nd quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,009,887 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $85,400,000 after buying an additional 1,811,301 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth about $108,564,000. Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $77,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 379.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,978,517 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $100,865,000 after buying an additional 1,565,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth approximately $66,942,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,052,464.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total value of $501,586.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 407,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,521,988.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $26,442.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,533 shares of company stock worth $5,808,540 over the last quarter. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $46.73. 1,338,253 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,058,677. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $39.94 and a 52 week high of $63.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 4.29, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business's fifty day moving average price is $53.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.48 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ciena 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.