Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 12,303 Shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its holdings in shares of Ciena Co. (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 14.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,594 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 12,303 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned 0.05% of Ciena worth $6,072,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ciena by 108.6% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 290 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 73.7% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ciena by 328.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Ciena by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Ciena during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total transaction of $27,534.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 46,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,637,150.11. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.41, for a total transaction of $519,588.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 398,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,453,129.09. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,588 shares of company stock worth $3,950,907 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Ciena stock traded down $1.57 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.98. 2,302,900 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,030,520. The company has a 50 day moving average of $68.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.42. Ciena Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.69 and a fifty-two week high of $101.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 140.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CIEN shares. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $89.00 price target (down previously from $97.00) on shares of Ciena in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Ciena from $73.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Ciena from $68.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ciena and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ciena presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.69.

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.