21,707 Shares in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Bought by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 21,707 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,337,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Ciena by 424.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ciena by 339.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $71.44 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $42.20 and a 1 year high of $73.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $63.14 and its 200 day moving average is $54.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.00, a P/E/G ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 0.94.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Barclays increased their target price on Ciena from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $59.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.