Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Sells 805 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp trimmed its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 126,910 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 805 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned about 0.09% of Ciena worth $6,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ciena by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 949,476 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,736,000 after purchasing an additional 18,860 shares during the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 67.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 225,172 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,135,000 after buying an additional 90,610 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter worth $73,476,000. Deepwater Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ciena during the first quarter valued at $1,587,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ciena by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,162,410 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $97,331,000 after acquiring an additional 332,181 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,340,561.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 3,156 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.74, for a total value of $144,355.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,340,561.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total transaction of $186,636.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,252,883.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,654 shares of company stock worth $929,794 over the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $48.46. The company had a trading volume of 60,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,822,148. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.09, a P/E/G ratio of 4.77 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $48.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.67. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $39.94 and a 52-week high of $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 2.76.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $910.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $895.80 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 7.16%. The business’s revenue was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Co. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CIEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their price target on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Raymond James cut Ciena from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $52.50 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.25.

About Ciena

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.