Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 68,720 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,828,000. Ciena accounts for about 2.1% of Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CIEN. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 925.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 328 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 409.8% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 520 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 152.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 847 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $65.84 on Thursday. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.48. The company has a market capitalization of $9.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Ciena from $94.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total transaction of $30,068.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 16,912 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.96, for a total value of $1,436,843.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 59,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,042,121.12. This represents a 22.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.