New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 194,486 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,348,595 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 194,486 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Cisco Systems worth $198,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $617,000. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 55,150 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,250,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. CFC Planning Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,683,000. First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 87,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,204 shares during the period. Finally, Palacios Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $347,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.84 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.89 and a 200-day moving average of $55.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Company 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.