Retirement Systems of Alabama Grows Stake in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 4.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 403,490 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ciena were worth $24,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of Ciena by 119.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,397,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,054,000 after buying an additional 2,943,146 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Ciena by 7,767.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,966,414 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $94,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,419 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $57,861,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ciena by 428.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 886,354 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,705,000 after purchasing an additional 718,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,416,000. 91.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,604,752.01. This trade represents a 2.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total value of $196,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,552,877.04. The trade was a 1.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,489 shares of company stock valued at $657,051 in the last quarter. 0.83% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. Northland Securities lifted their target price on Ciena from $46.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Ciena from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Ciena from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ciena from $67.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.00.

Ciena Price Performance

CIEN stock opened at $89.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 157.40, a P/E/G ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 0.95. Ciena Co. has a 12 month low of $42.20 and a 12 month high of $91.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $68.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.86. The company has a current ratio of 4.06, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Ciena announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the communications equipment provider to repurchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.