Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 76,642 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,500,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Ciena at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Ciena by 925.0% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Ciena by 409.8% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 152.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Ciena by 59.2% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $63.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 112.00, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $82.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $43.30 and a one year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 price target on Ciena and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.38.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $519,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at $30,453,129.09. This trade represents a 1.68 % 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 Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total transaction of $478,046.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 sold 63,442 shares of company stock valued at $5,337,764. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

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.