Channing Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Channing Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,207 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 20,371 shares during the period. Channing Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Ciena worth $7,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 2.8% in the third quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 9,774 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 8,321 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,933 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,029,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 65,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Up 2.4 %

Ciena stock traded up $1.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $48.92. The company had a trading volume of 891,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,952,015. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. The firm has a market cap of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $49.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.36. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total transaction of $501,586.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,521,988.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 8,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.20, for a total value of $501,586.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 407,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,521,988.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.19, for a total transaction of $175,665.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 230,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,543,750.19. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,351 shares of company stock valued at $1,921,835. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.