Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 41,500 Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 41,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,868,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter valued at about $59,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth about $101,000. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,450 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $125,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 74.5% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 2,999 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 19.0% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $43.77 on Friday. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.94 and a fifty-two week high of $63.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.19. The company has a market capitalization of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 9.92%. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,252,883.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 70,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.11, for a total transaction of $3,833,044.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 424,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,942,964.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,252,883.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880. Corporate insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.79.

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.