Westerly Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Westerly Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 30.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,000 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Ciena comprises about 1.8% of Westerly Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Westerly Capital Management LLC's holdings in Ciena were worth $3,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised 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 acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CIEN. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $89.00 price objective (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.62.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN traded up $1.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,854,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,022,502. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 127.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.79. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $44.69 and a one year high of $101.44.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.86, for a total transaction of $577,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 412,149 shares in the company, valued at $34,974,964.14. This trade represents a 1.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock valued at $3,299,980. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.