Ciena Corporation $CIEN Holdings Cut by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,104 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Ciena were worth $10,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,462,840 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $941,451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,787 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Ciena by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,495,795 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $284,313,000 after buying an additional 329,821 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $292,310,000. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Ciena by 48.5% in the third quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,983,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $288,864,000 after buying an additional 648,000 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in Ciena by 7.6% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,836,981 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $267,593,000 after buying an additional 130,507 shares during the period. 91.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $415.51, for a total transaction of $1,226,585.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 281,365 shares in the company, valued at $116,909,971.15. This trade represents a 1.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.79, for a total transaction of $566,148.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 45,141 shares in the company, valued at $21,297,072.39. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 42,974 shares of company stock worth $16,615,505. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a report on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $286.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ciena from $355.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.59.

Ciena Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:CIEN opened at $520.34 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $73.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 331.43, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.81. Ciena Corporation has a 1 year low of $63.99 and a 1 year high of $527.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $399.49 and a 200-day moving average of $281.82.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 4.47% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company’s revenue was up 33.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ciena Corporation will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena 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.