ExodusPoint Capital Management LP Purchases New Shares in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 81,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,946,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP owned 0.06% of Ciena at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,997,000. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter worth about $45,341,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 4,484.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 529,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,912,000 after acquiring an additional 518,003 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,919,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Ciena by 263.7% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $39,325,000 after acquiring an additional 336,180 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Northland Capmk raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $53.53 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.91, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. 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 one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44. The business has a fifty day moving average of $75.40 and a 200 day moving average of $74.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at $5,344,769.04. This trade represents a 17.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.29, for a total value of $579,972.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513 in the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.