State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 369 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 0.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,724 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 369 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ciena by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,404 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Ciena by 2.4% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,307 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Ciena by 5.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Ciena by 424.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. 91.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ciena news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.49, for a total value of $135,278.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 91,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,604,752.01. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP David M. Rothenstein sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.24, for a total transaction of $196,840.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 205,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,552,877.04. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,200 shares of company stock valued at $568,123 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 restated a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Ciena in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Ciena from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ciena from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised Ciena from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $44.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.08.

Ciena Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of CIEN opened at $70.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a PE ratio of 75.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $62.81 and its 200 day moving average is $54.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 4.06. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.20 and a fifty-two week high of $73.47.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $928.31 million. Ciena had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 5.98%. The business’s revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ciena Co. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ciena declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 2nd that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the communications equipment provider to purchase up to 10.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.