Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio decreased its position in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,252 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,060 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 34.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 40,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 5.5% during the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,885 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 7.1%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $195.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 201.98, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.15. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.21 and a 1-year high of $196.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.28, a quick ratio of 2.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $149.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.73.

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

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, Director Bruce L. Claflin sold 8,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.12, for a total value of $1,185,555.32. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 54,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,653,914.88. This represents a 13.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.93, for a total value of $631,924.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 305,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,358,240.01. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,174 shares of company stock valued at $7,231,504. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Ciena from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $100.00 to $140.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ciena from $78.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.53.

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.