Channing Capital Management LLC Has $3.96 Million Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Channing Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 84.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,650 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 250,201 shares during the quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 409.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ciena by 152.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Ciena by 59.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at $5,042,121.12. This trade represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total transaction of $311,815.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,442 shares of company stock worth $5,337,764 over the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.62.

Ciena Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $63.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 112.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average is $83.48 and its 200-day moving average is $73.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced 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). Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.