Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,871,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 178,137 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 1.30% of Ciena worth $115,255,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ciena by 2.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Ciena by 5.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CIEN. Evercore ISI cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upgraded Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 over the last three months. 0.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $70.93 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 75.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.85 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.20. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $42.20 and a one year high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Ciena’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.