Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 66,420 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 460,727 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 66,420 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ciena were worth $20,737,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Ciena by 166.5% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,987 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 5,615 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its position in Ciena by 6.5% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,293 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Ciena by 50.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 122,665 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,797,000 after purchasing an additional 40,864 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new position in Ciena in the third quarter worth about $328,000. Finally, PFG Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter valued at about $161,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ciena Price Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $46.76 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $50.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.25. The firm has a market cap of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.36, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 3.12 and a current ratio of 4.29. Ciena Co. has a one year low of $39.94 and a one year high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Ciena had a return on equity of 9.92% and a net margin of 5.22%. The company’s revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.48 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total value of $26,442.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 41,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,052,464.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.80, for a total value of $186,636.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 385,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,252,883.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 533 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.61, for a total transaction of $26,442.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,052,464.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 107,189 shares of company stock valued at $5,754,880 in the last 90 days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ciena from $56.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Ciena in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup started coverage on Ciena in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “sell” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Ciena from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.79.

Ciena Company 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.