Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Lowers Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych decreased its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Generali Investments Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych’s holdings in Ciena were worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 59.2% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $97,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $78.08 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. The stock has a market cap of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 136.99, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.30 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The business’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $1,137,776.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,618,161.34. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities lifted their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

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.