Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 144,543 Shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in shares of Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) by 45.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 172,972 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 144,543 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.12% of Ciena worth $10,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIEN. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ciena by 328.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 364 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 73.7% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 356 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ciena by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 420 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in Ciena by 66.7% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 640 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ciena

In other news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.67, for a total value of $27,534.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,233 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,637,150.11. The trade was a 0.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of Ciena stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.54, for a total value of $404,872.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 375,680 shares in the company, valued at $22,367,987.20. This represents a 1.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 49,638 shares of company stock valued at $3,345,797. Company insiders own 0.93% of the company's stock.

Ciena Stock Up 1.0%

Ciena stock opened at $74.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.12. Ciena Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.89 and a 52 week high of $101.44. The business's 50-day moving average price is $73.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.57, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.08). Ciena had a return on equity of 5.08% and a net margin of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CIEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Northland Securities set a $85.00 price target on Ciena in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ciena from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Ciena from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Northland Capmk upgraded Ciena from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Barclays set a $100.00 price objective on Ciena and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ciena has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $83.15.

Ciena 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CIEN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.