Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 1,108.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,867 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 38,402 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Ciena by 424.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of Ciena by 339.5% in 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. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $63.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.01. 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 $69.91.

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

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CIEN. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade 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 is available at this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.