New York Life Investment Management LLC Takes $1.29 Million Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 15,222 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,291,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Ciena by 399.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $146,000 after buying an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Ciena by 5.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in Ciena by 6.1% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,694 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after buying an additional 955 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 buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ciena by 1,108.3% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 41,867 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,579,000 after buying an additional 38,402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. This trade represents a 0.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,642 shares of company stock valued at $4,818,176 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $74.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $85.59 and a 200 day moving average of $72.65. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The firm has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a PE ratio of 131.09, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. Ciena’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Northland Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price (up previously from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.77.

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.