Lmcg Investments LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Lmcg Investments LLC trimmed its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 146,634 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,465 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $11,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ion Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Ciena by 6.3% in the first quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,356,752 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $81,989,000 after purchasing an additional 80,426 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Ciena by 375.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $100,499,000 after purchasing an additional 975,792 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the first quarter worth about $70,065,000. Analog Century Management LP boosted its position in Ciena by 33.0% in the first quarter. Analog Century Management LP now owns 841,311 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $50,840,000 after purchasing an additional 208,509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in Ciena in the first quarter worth about $49,221,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Down 4.6%

Shares of CIEN opened at $156.04 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $118.21 and its 200 day moving average is $89.39. The company has a market capitalization of $22.01 billion, a PE ratio of 160.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.21 and a 12-month high of $165.24. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.00, for a total value of $46,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,665,176. The trade was a 0.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 54,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,653,914.88. The trade was a 13.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,724 shares of company stock worth $5,336,431 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ciena from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.23.

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.