Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 34,169 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 185,916 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,169 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Ciena worth $15,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in Ciena by 925.0% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Ciena by 409.8% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% in 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 bought a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the company’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 owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at $30,453,129.09. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 59,942 shares of company stock worth $5,025,949. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CIEN. Northland Securities upgraded shares of Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Ciena Trading Down 2.1 %

Ciena stock opened at $64.28 on Wednesday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.53. The firm has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a PE ratio of 112.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91.

About Ciena

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.