Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 7,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,795,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter worth about $2,747,810,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 30,114.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,870,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $671,365,000 after buying an additional 2,861,176 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $292,310,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ciena by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,051,625 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $947,554,000 after buying an additional 1,404,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $102,705,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Performance

NYSE:CIEN opened at $481.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $518.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $382.67. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $76.89 and a fifty-two week high of $637.51.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $1.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.50 billion. Ciena had a net margin of 7.87% and a return on equity of 18.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ciena Corporation will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $466.10, for a total value of $559,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 42,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,921,580.10. This trade represents a 2.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Marc D. Graff sold 126 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $449.36, for a total transaction of $56,619.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 127,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,105,118.16. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 40,500 shares of company stock valued at $18,381,089. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ciena from $425.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. B. Riley Financial raised their target price on Ciena from $283.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $615.00 target price on Ciena in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on Ciena from $550.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on Ciena in a report on Friday, May 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $416.00 price target for the company. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $530.56.

Ciena Company Profile

Ciena Corporation (NYSE: CIEN) is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company develops high-capacity optical transport systems and packet-optical platforms that enable service providers, cloud operators and large enterprises to build, manage and scale their networks. Ciena’s product portfolio includes coherent optical solutions, packet networking platforms and a suite of network automation software designed to optimize bandwidth, reduce latency and simplify network operations.

In addition to hardware offerings, Ciena provides professional services and support, including network design, implementation and ongoing maintenance.