Chartwell Investment Partners LLC Has $2.87 Million Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 97.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 46,584 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,000 shares during the quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 28,506 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after buying an additional 7,473 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $1,988,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $128,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its position in shares of Ciena by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 320,215 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $19,722,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $289,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BNP Paribas cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.08.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $70.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 75.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.94. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $73.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.81 and a 200-day moving average of $54.20.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The company had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total value of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.