Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Buys 6,520 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,075 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,520 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ciena were worth $7,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Ciena in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $55,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ciena from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Ciena to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.67.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $303.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 357.48, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.21 and a 12 month high of $308.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $243.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $180.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 8.38%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,370,344.50. The trade was a 19.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.60, for a total value of $784,051.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 301,940 shares in the company, valued at $80,195,264. This represents a 0.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 157,242 shares of company stock valued at $36,341,766 over the last three months. 0.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.