Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 4,691 Shares of Ciena Corporation $CIEN

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN) by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,277 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,691 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Ciena were worth $5,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in Ciena in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in Ciena during the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ciena during the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ciena by 107.5% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 718 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jason Phipps sold 21,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.89, for a total transaction of $5,300,631.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 91,765 shares in the company, valued at $22,747,625.85. This represents a 18.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Thomas Michael Nevens sold 8,554 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.66, for a total transaction of $1,921,741.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,116,746.52. The trade was a 47.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 167,890 shares of company stock valued at $38,277,035. Corporate insiders own 0.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CIEN shares. Morgan Stanley set a $213.00 price target on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas Exane set a $185.00 target price on shares of Ciena and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Ciena from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ciena in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ciena from $120.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.67.

Ciena Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE CIEN opened at $232.13 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $222.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $163.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.70 billion, a PE ratio of 273.09, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.13. Ciena Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.21 and a fifty-two week high of $261.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.73 and a quick ratio of 2.09.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Ciena had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 2.59%.The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. Ciena’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ciena

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.