Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 298,419 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,411 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pflug Koory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $55.73 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.18. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.