Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $2.79 Million Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,795,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ciena in the 1st quarter valued at $395,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings 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 worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,061 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $13,419,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position 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 valued at $348,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at $234,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In related news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total transaction of $559,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,921,580.10. This represents a 2.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $449.36, for a total transaction of $56,619.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 127,081 shares in the company, valued at $57,105,118.16. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 40,500 shares of company stock worth $18,381,089 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $481.36 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $518.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $382.67. Ciena Corporation has a twelve month low of $76.89 and a twelve 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 stock has a market capitalization of $68.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.45 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CIEN shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Ciena from $345.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $320.00 to $530.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ciena from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Ciena in a report on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 target price for the company. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

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.