Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 1.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,827 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,092 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Ciena were worth $8,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 162.0% during the first quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 14,465 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $874,000 after acquiring an additional 8,945 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 50.0% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Ciena during the first quarter worth about $852,000. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 13.6% during the first quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 40,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $2,279,000 after acquiring an additional 4,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 6.6% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 118,202 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $7,143,000 after acquiring an additional 7,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Ciena stock opened at $81.38 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.19. The company has a market capitalization of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.11. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $44.89 and a 1 year 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.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Northland Securities set a $100.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price 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, Evercore ISI reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 2,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.64, for a total value of $166,872.16. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 47,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,853,244.72. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.35, for a total transaction of $546,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 332,357 shares in the company, valued at $26,704,884.95. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,919 shares of company stock worth $3,115,199. Insiders own 0.93% 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.