Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 90,408 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,309 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Ciena were worth $4,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 14,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $657,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 0.9% during the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 26,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,300,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in Ciena by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 5,929 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 65,784 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,961,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup began coverage on Ciena in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total value of $63,112.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,444,267. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total transaction of $204,800.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 376,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,522,357.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.00, for a total transaction of $63,112.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,883 shares in the company, valued at $2,444,267. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,832 shares of company stock valued at $769,636 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $52.74 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.11. The firm has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a current ratio of 3.88. Ciena Co. has a 1 year low of $39.94 and a 1 year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. Ciena had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The company had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $895.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Ciena’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.