Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Stock Position in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 9.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,897 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 9,175 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.06% of Ciena worth $5,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Ciena by 32.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 17,715 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,091,000 after acquiring an additional 4,344 shares in the last quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P. now owns 25,576 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 6,251 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $627,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Ciena by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,439,478 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $273,427,000 after purchasing an additional 53,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Ciena by 3.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 105,774 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $6,515,000 after buying an additional 3,153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.43, for a total transaction of $236,005.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 199,997 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,485,797.71. The trade was a 1.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.99, for a total value of $88,928.11. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 39,486 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,724,139.14. This represents a 3.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock worth $657,051. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

Shares of CIEN stock traded up $5.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $89.72. 6,668,578 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,848,684. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.92. Ciena Co. has a 52-week low of $42.20 and a 52-week high of $91.25.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 3.44%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 2nd that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the communications equipment provider to buy up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas lowered Ciena from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lowered Ciena from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ciena from $84.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ciena presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.00.

About Ciena

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.