Slate Path Capital LP Sells 675,800 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Slate Path Capital LP cut its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,179,600 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 675,800 shares during the period. Ciena makes up about 3.4% of Slate Path Capital LP's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Slate Path Capital LP owned approximately 1.53% of Ciena worth $184,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,316,640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,299,004,000 after buying an additional 139,941 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,236,920 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $444,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,447 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,419,947 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $205,301,000 after purchasing an additional 11,933 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Ciena by 4,215.9% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 899,828 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $76,314,000 after purchasing an additional 878,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Capmk raised shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.54, for a total transaction of $404,872.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 375,680 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,367,987.20. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total value of $1,131,013.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 49,288 shares of company stock worth $3,299,980. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 2.7 %

NYSE CIEN traded up $1.71 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.00. 1,600,990 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,015,456. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.79, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.82. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $44.69 and a 52-week high of $101.44.

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.