State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 800 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 2.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 34,796 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Ciena were worth $1,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 13.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,499,035 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,223,000 after acquiring an additional 181,358 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ciena by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 16,590 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $799,000 after purchasing an additional 2,667 shares in the last quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,454,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Ciena by 0.7% in the second quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 169,852 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,183,000 after buying an additional 1,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the second quarter valued at approximately $146,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on CIEN. Morgan Stanley raised Ciena from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. B. Riley lowered their price target on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Ciena from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,881,601.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.81, for a total value of $170,835.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 212,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,368,269.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 4,166 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $199,926.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 372,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,881,601.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,378 shares of company stock valued at $501,724. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of CIEN opened at $56.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 54.79, a PEG ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.97. The company has a current ratio of 3.88, a quick ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $39.94 and a 12 month high of $63.24.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $910.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $895.80 million. Ciena had a return on equity of 7.16% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

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.