California Public Employees Retirement System Has $18.80 Million Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 221,681 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 15,807 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ciena were worth $18,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at $56,997,000. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,341,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 4,484.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 529,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,912,000 after acquiring an additional 518,003 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,919,000. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 263.7% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 463,680 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $39,325,000 after purchasing an additional 336,180 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 2,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $172,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 207,370 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,283,645.60. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,200 shares of company stock worth $4,921,513 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $89.00 target price (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.38.

Ciena Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $53.53 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.08. The company has a market capitalization of $7.61 billion, a PE ratio of 93.91, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena Co. has a 52 week low of $43.30 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a current ratio of 3.55.

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.