Savant Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Savant Capital LLC raised its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,775 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Ciena by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Ciena by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 40,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,253,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.6% in the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 34,196 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,781,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 40,653 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,884,992.08. The trade was a 0.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total transaction of $1,185,555.32. Following the sale, the director owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 52,174 shares of company stock worth $7,231,504. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 4.7%

NYSE CIEN opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $214.17. The company has a market capitalization of $29.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 215.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $155.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.04.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ciena from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $100.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $153.20.

Ciena Company 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.