Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC Takes $269,000 Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 3,173 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 549.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,346,000 after buying an additional 128,392 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.2% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,244,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 156.3% during the third quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 6,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 7.3% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CIEN shares. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $89.00 target price (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $64.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a PE ratio of 112.77, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.53. 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 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total transaction of $1,436,843.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,042,121.12. The trade was a 22.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 59,942 shares of company stock worth $5,025,949. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.