Ciena Corporation $CIEN Stock Sold by Vestor Capital LLC

Vestor Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,099 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 13,994 shares during the quarter. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at $404,948,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in Ciena by 23.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 512,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $180,239,000 after purchasing an additional 97,505 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Ciena by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 413,332 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $160,468,000 after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Ciena by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 332,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $116,900,000 after purchasing an additional 12,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Ciena by 24.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 266,384 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $93,719,000 after purchasing an additional 52,382 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, EVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.19, for a total transaction of $933,794.51. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 57,388 shares in the company, valued at $20,383,643.72. This trade represents a 4.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 2,857 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.91, for a total value of $1,016,834.87. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,279 shares in the company, valued at $2,946,578.89. The trade was a 25.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 36,014 shares of company stock worth $13,216,540. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CIEN shares. Evercore raised shares of Ciena from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Argus set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ciena from $508.00 to $394.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $485.93.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $272.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.85, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $168.22 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $346.30 and its 200-day moving average is $402.93.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 6.00 EPS for the current year.

About Ciena

Ciena is a communications networking company that develops equipment, software and services used to build and manage telecommunications networks. Its offerings support the movement of data across fiber-optic, subsea and other network infrastructure. The company’s products include optical transport systems, routing and switching equipment, and software for network automation and management. Ciena also provides consulting, implementation and support services to help customers plan, deploy and operate their networks.