Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,877,702 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 28,709 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises about 0.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.07% of Cisco Systems worth $145,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Melius cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.86. The company had a trading volume of 14,658,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. The firm has a market cap of $193.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.56 and a 1-year high of $58.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Cisco Systems

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.