Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Acquired by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 959,831 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,403,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Ciena in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,398,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Ciena by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 44,711 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,792,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Ciena by 70.2% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,222 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.19, for a total transaction of $504,492.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 348,480 shares in the company, valued at $25,853,731.20. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 18,888 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.88, for a total transaction of $1,131,013.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 89,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,344,769.04. This represents a 17.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,638 shares of company stock valued at $3,345,797. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CIEN opened at $81.57 on Friday. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.89 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.57 and a current ratio of 3.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.27. The firm has a market cap of $11.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.12.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Northland Securities set a $85.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ciena from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $44.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.15.

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.