Rothschild Investment LLC Increases Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 38.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,453 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,189 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Ciena by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ciena by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,403,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $1,129,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $328,000. Finally, Institute for Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $246,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $79.98 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $44.69 and a 52-week high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.51. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s 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 owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at $30,453,129.09. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 58,588 shares of company stock worth $3,950,907 over the last ninety days. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.69.

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.