Centiva Capital LP Invests $763,000 in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Centiva Capital LP purchased a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 8,994 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $763,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $421,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $755,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 38,350 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,252,000 after purchasing an additional 5,684 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Ciena from $88.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ciena from $98.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. This trade represents a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,453,129.09. This represents a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 49,288 shares of company stock worth $3,211,852. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $74.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $44.69 and a 12-month high of $101.44. The company has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.99.

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.