Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Grows Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 72,102 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,255 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BOKF NA bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. BerganKDV Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. WealthPLAN Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.02% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $45.19 on Monday. Ciena Co. has a 12-month low of $39.94 and a 12-month high of $54.25. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.92. The company has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a PE ratio of 30.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 3.95, a quick ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.08. Ciena had a return on equity of 10.00% and a net margin of 5.23%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.18 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CIEN. StockNews.com began coverage on Ciena in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Ciena from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, September 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on Ciena from $66.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 1st. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, September 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Ciena from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.15, for a total transaction of $175,596.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 406,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,148,390.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.15, for a total transaction of $175,596.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 406,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,148,390.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 3,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.30, for a total value of $181,300.90. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 82,617 shares in the company, valued at $3,907,784.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,375 shares of company stock worth $1,316,313 in the last ninety days. 0.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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, IP routing, and switching services.