Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 47,324 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,270 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Ciena were worth $2,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,742 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Ciena by 2.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ciena by 5.4% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Ciena stock opened at $89.72 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.86. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 4.06 and a quick ratio of 2.99. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $91.25.

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). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Northland Securities raised their price objective on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.