Lmcg Investments LLC Trims Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Lmcg Investments LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 167,603 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,365 shares during the period. Ciena accounts for about 0.9% of Lmcg Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $14,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Securities boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total value of $579,972.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 418,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,732,160.21. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.09, for a total value of $311,815.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 192,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,194,102.73. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,781 shares of company stock worth $4,298,500 in the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $84.96 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.84. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $91.82. The company has a market cap of $12.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Ciena 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.