New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 159.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 218,980 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 134,694 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.15% of Ciena worth $18,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CIEN. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $57,861,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ciena in the 4th quarter valued at $56,997,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,416,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,403,000. Finally, LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at $17,236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CIEN opened at $84.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.00 billion, a PE ratio of 147.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $86.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.27. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $43.30 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 3.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.10 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 2.09% and a return on equity of 4.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.16, for a total transaction of $31,556.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,197 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,435,601.52. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Phipps sold 5,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.64, for a total transaction of $478,046.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 109,878 shares in the company, valued at $9,300,073.92. This trade represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,642 shares of company stock worth $4,818,176. 0.93% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Ciena from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Ciena from $75.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.77.

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.