Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) is North Growth Management Ltd.’s 3rd Largest Position

North Growth Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 529,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Ciena makes up approximately 5.0% of North Growth Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. North Growth Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.37% of Ciena worth $25,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth $14,454,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 169,852 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at about $146,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter valued at about $227,000. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total transaction of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,368,269.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $199,926.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,881,601.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 212,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,368,269.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,378 shares of company stock valued at $501,724. 0.83% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CIEN. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Barclays lowered their target price on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. B. Riley reduced their price target on Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.25.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock traded up $2.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $56.54. The company had a trading volume of 1,312,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,718,876. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $49.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.98. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $63.24. The company has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.37, a P/E/G ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.76, a current ratio of 3.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The company had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $895.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 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.