Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. Has $267,000 Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,929 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $267,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Ciena by 87.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 50,597 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 23,544 shares in the last quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 34.4% during the third quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 352,727 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $16,670,000 after acquiring an additional 90,206 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 2.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 17,585 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $833,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $483,000. Finally, Atreides Management LP bought a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth about $77,883,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN traded up $0.83 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $44.75. 1,850,055 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,007,269. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.34 and its 200-day moving average is $48.20. The company has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $39.94 and a 1-year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly 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. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity 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 value of $3,833,044.18. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 424,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 424,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,942,964.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total transaction of $501,586.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 407,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,521,988.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CIEN. StockNews.com upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Ciena in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently 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.