Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $5.43 Million Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lowered its position in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,277 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,691 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Ciena were worth $5,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the first quarter worth about $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Ciena by 139.6% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 5,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 3,061 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ciena by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 222,054 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Ciena by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 5,762 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,085 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,829,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Ciena to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Northland Securities set a $190.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore ISI set a $240.00 target price on Ciena in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 11,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.82, for a total transaction of $2,741,522.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 49,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,370,344.50. This represents a 19.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 83,552 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.44, for a total value of $19,170,170.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 307,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,641,134.40. The trade was a 21.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 167,890 shares of company stock valued at $38,277,035 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE CIEN opened at $232.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 273.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $163.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $261.13.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 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.