Primecap Management Co. CA Buys 336,180 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 263.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 336,180 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Ciena were worth $39,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $261,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 549.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 151,747 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $9,346,000 after acquiring an additional 128,392 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ciena by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 133,856 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $8,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 156.3% during the 3rd quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. now owns 11,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 6,960 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Ciena by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,327 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Northland Securities upgraded Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays set a $100.00 price target on Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of CIEN opened at $64.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a PE ratio of 112.77, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $43.30 and a 12 month high of $101.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $81.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.53. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total transaction of $519,588.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,453,129.09. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total value of $478,046.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at $9,300,073.92. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 59,942 shares of company stock valued at $5,025,949. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.