Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,684 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 538 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Ciena were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ciena by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,408,014 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $148,348,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Ciena during the 4th quarter worth $245,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Ciena by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,459 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ciena in the fourth quarter valued at about $421,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Ciena by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,664,066 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,334,290,000 after purchasing an additional 108,407 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Ciena Stock Up 6.2 %

Ciena stock opened at $69.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 122.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Ciena Co. has a twelve month low of $43.30 and a twelve month high of $101.44. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ciena from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective (up from $75.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Securities raised Ciena from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Ciena from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 13,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.66, for a total value of $1,137,776.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 425,749 shares in the company, valued at $35,618,161.34. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.91, for a total value of $30,068.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 49,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,256,582.77. This represents a 0.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,742 shares of company stock worth $5,469,173 in the last quarter. 0.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.