Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 20.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 106,642 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 27,214 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $9,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning grew its position in Ciena by 65.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,516 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 5,717 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 399.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,902 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Ciena by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,694 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Ciena by 2.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total value of $31,556.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Up 1.9 %

CIEN opened at $79.49 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44. 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 50-day simple moving average of $85.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.35. The company has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a PE ratio of 139.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.