Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,277 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,856 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $4,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,334,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,407 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its position in Ciena by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Ciena by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,706,308 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $130,392,000 after purchasing an additional 523,313 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 17.2% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,049,464 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,743,000 after buying an additional 301,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,941,419 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $69.72 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.05. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $42.20 and a 12-month high of $73.47. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 74.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. Ciena’s revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upgraded 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 report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.