California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 5,095 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

California State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 209,689 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,095 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Ciena were worth $81,408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter worth approximately $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in shares of Ciena by 139.6% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 1.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,419,000 after buying an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 14.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the second quarter worth $234,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 2,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $562.05, for a total transaction of $1,659,171.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 272,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $153,163,683.45. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.33, for a total value of $739,599.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,992,499.76. The trade was a 3.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,627 shares of company stock valued at $10,974,985. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Northland Securities set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $380.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Argus set a $650.00 price objective on Ciena in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ciena currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $330.32 on Thursday. Ciena Corporation has a 12 month low of $84.41 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $465.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $412.78. The stock has a market cap of $46.76 billion, a PE ratio of 110.11 and a beta of 1.27.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.18. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The company had revenue of $1.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 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.