VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New $11.65 Million Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 23,740 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,646,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC now owns 1,142 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Ciena by 57.8% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management raised its position in Ciena by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 205 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $321.52 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $400.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $438.39. Ciena Corporation has a 1-year low of $113.66 and a 1-year high of $637.51. The company has a current ratio of 3.80, a quick ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $45.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.77 and a beta of 1.30.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.38. Ciena had a return on equity of 25.33% and a net margin of 10.87%.The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 37.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.37 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $450.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Ciena from $720.00 to $525.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. B. Riley Financial reduced their target price on Ciena from $516.00 to $413.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Ciena from $600.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $480.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 42,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.20, for a total value of $1,225,639.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 62,382 shares in the company, valued at $29,082,488.40. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,422 shares of company stock valued at $11,038,802 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Company 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.