QRG Capital Management Inc. Sells 232 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

QRG Capital Management Inc. cut its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,395 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ciena were worth $439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 375.4% in the second quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,235,696 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,499,000 after buying an additional 975,792 shares in the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at $445,000. Poinciana Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at $275,000. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 7.1% in the second quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 34,442 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after buying an additional 2,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 29.8% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,868 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 1,575 shares in the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ciena Stock Down 4.6%

CIEN opened at $156.04 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $165.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a current ratio of 3.28. The company has a market capitalization of $22.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $118.21 and a 200-day moving average of $89.39.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%.The company had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.88, for a total transaction of $1,019,184.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 282,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,276,651.60. This trade represents a 2.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.00, for a total value of $46,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 42,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,665,176. This represents a 0.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,724 shares of company stock worth $5,336,431 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CIEN. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday. B. Riley reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $113.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, September 5th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on Ciena in a report on Monday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.23.

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.