Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 65,000 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Impax Asset Management Group plc cut its position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 211,064 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 65,000 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Ciena were worth $12,999,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after acquiring an additional 2,943,146 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Ciena by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,513 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 17.2% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $98,743,000 after purchasing an additional 301,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 7,767.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $94,742,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Insider Activity

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

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE CIEN opened at $65.87 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.15. The stock has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a PE ratio of 70.08, a PEG ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $69.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.