Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Acquires 2,420 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 76,082 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,420 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. owned 0.05% of Ciena worth $3,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 166.5% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,987 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 5,615 shares in the last quarter. DDD Partners LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 41.9% in the 3rd quarter. DDD Partners LLC now owns 308,042 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,409,000 after acquiring an additional 90,907 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $600,000. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP increased its holdings in Ciena by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Street Asset Management LLP now owns 309,184 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,612,000 after purchasing an additional 8,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,293 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,109 shares in the company, valued at $17,252,883.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,561.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total value of $186,636.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,109 shares in the company, valued at $17,252,883.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $45.68. The company had a trading volume of 2,367,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,006,549. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.16. The company has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.99. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24. 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) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas began coverage on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.79.

Ciena Company 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.