Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Acquired by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,800 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Ciena were worth $14,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 1.8% during the first quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 358 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,107 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC now owns 106 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,629 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ciena Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of CIEN stock opened at $446.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $504.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $401.67. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $80.83 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The company has a market capitalization of $63.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.99 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 18.15% and a net margin of 7.87%.The business had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CIEN. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $372.00 to $607.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ciena from $405.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $350.00 to $720.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $530.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total transaction of $1,225,639.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,082,488.40. This trade represents a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 21,627 shares of company stock worth $10,974,985 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.