Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,555 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,904 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ciena were worth $3,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CIEN. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its stake in Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 65.6% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,593 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Ciena by 82.5% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,203 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,556 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Joseph Cumello sold 1,863 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.14, for a total transaction of $262,943.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 43,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,143,965.34. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.45, for a total transaction of $1,424,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 261,670 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,806,781.50. This trade represents a 2.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,974 shares of company stock worth $8,655,764. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ciena Price Performance

Shares of Ciena stock opened at $209.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $214.17. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 215.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Ciena had a net margin of 3.10% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $844.44 million for the quarter. Analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CIEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $127.50 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ciena from $105.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research raised Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ciena from $102.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $153.20.

Ciena Company 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.