VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New $2.55 Million Investment in Ciena Corporation $CIEN

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Ciena Corporation (NYSE:CIEN - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 31,385 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,553,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 15.4% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 34.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 636 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 50.0% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 534 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 0.5% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,910 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,351,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Ciena by 1.1% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 16,649 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.99% of the company's stock.

Ciena Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE CIEN opened at $169.54 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.86. Ciena Corporation has a one year low of $49.21 and a one year high of $177.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 174.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 3.28 and a quick ratio of 2.52.

Ciena (NYSE:CIEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 6th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter. Ciena had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 3.10%.The business had revenue of $844.44 million during the quarter. Research analysts expect that Ciena Corporation will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ciena

In other Ciena news, SVP Brodie Gage sold 350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.36, for a total value of $59,276.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 40,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,884,992.08. This trade represents a 0.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary B. Smith sold 6,800 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.25, for a total value of $1,157,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,270 shares of the company's stock, valued at $46,864,717.50. This trade represents a 2.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,374 shares of company stock worth $5,936,444. 0.93% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CIEN. Bank of America increased their price target on Ciena from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ciena from $120.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Argus increased their price target on Ciena from $100.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Ciena from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ciena in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $137.53.

About Ciena

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.

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