Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd Has $6.14 Million Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd cut its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 24.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 99,656 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 32,410 shares during the period. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd’s holdings in Ciena were worth $6,138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 6.3% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 45,426 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,777,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 178,956.3% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 28,649 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,764,000 after acquiring an additional 28,633 shares in the last quarter. Atom Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,297,000. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in Ciena by 283.7% in the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 50,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,080,000 after buying an additional 36,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the third quarter worth $259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $71.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.60, a PEG ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $73.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.25.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 1.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.08.

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.