New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 18,833 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 11.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 151,019 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 18,833 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.11% of Ciena worth $9,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 1,171.4% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 44,854 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 41,326 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth about $661,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,039,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Ciena by 13.8% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 181,358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in Ciena by 372.8% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 36,744 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 28,972 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CIEN. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ciena from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ciena from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.08.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of CIEN traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $63.24. The company had a trading volume of 1,131,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,808,684. The company has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.28, a P/E/G ratio of 8.31 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $61.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.01. Ciena Co. has a 1-year low of $42.20 and a 1-year high of $69.91.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $928.31 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Ciena declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the communications equipment provider to reacquire up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total transaction of $135,278.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,485,797.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 in the last ninety days. 0.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.