New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 6,317 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 174,040 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,317 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of Ciena worth $7,834,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Ciena by 63.9% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 849 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at $59,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $101,000. State of Wyoming raised its position in Ciena by 35.4% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,450 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co raised its position in Ciena by 74.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CIEN shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $26,442.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,052,464.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.39, for a total value of $205,758.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 389,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,226,292.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $26,442.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares in the company, valued at $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,533 shares of company stock valued at $5,808,540 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $47.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.12, a current ratio of 4.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $39.94 and a 12 month high of $63.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.26. The stock has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.99.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

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, optical transport network switching, IP routing, and switching services.