Ciena Corporation $CIEN Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 35,298 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 984 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Ciena were worth $8,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth $25,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Ciena by 50.4% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 104.0% in the third quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 204 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 42.5% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 312 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 22,014 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $409.80, for a total transaction of $9,021,337.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 68 shares in the company, valued at $27,866.40. The trade was a 99.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.65, for a total transaction of $684,780.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 43,941 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,074,931.65. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 41,222 shares of company stock worth $17,831,763 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN opened at $568.43 on Tuesday. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $70.77 and a 1 year high of $605.61. The company has a market cap of $80.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 362.06 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $503.80 and a 200-day moving average of $345.22.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $279.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ciena from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $406.61.

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.