Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Purchases New Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 574,814 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,403,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned 0.40% of Ciena at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Ciena by 1,944.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,062,394 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $101,986,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,513 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at about $222,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at about $242,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ciena by 372.8% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 36,744 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 28,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp increased its position in shares of Ciena by 4.0% during the first quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 21,776 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 value 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 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051 over the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ciena Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE:CIEN opened at $70.13 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.94. 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 12-month low of $42.20 and a 12-month high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup raised shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $44.00 to $68.00 in a report on Monday, September 23rd. 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 note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight equities 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.08.

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.