Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 21.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 317,515 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 85,975 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ciena were worth $26,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $57,861,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,416,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,403,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter worth about $17,236,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in Ciena by 119.6% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 239,389 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,744,000 after purchasing an additional 130,399 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CIEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI cut Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Northland Securities increased their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.77.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $92.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 3.55 and a quick ratio of 2.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of 161.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.88. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $43.30 and a 1 year high of $101.44.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 4.72% and a net margin of 2.09%. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total transaction of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,724,139.14. The trade was a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.86, for a total value of $577,048.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 412,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,974,964.14. This trade represents a 1.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,581 shares of company stock worth $4,875,548 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

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.