Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 52.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,719 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 19,267 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ciena were worth $798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 63.9% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 849 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $59,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $101,000. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,450 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 74.5% in the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,999 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,006 shares in the company, valued at $22,942,964.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.86, for a total value of $473,757.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 415,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,635,223.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $3,833,044.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 424,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,189 shares of company stock worth $5,754,880 in the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CIEN. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research 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. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $58.79.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,319,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,036,666. The company has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.99. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $63.24. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $52.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.25. 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 (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The business's revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

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.