Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 28,709 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,877,702 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 28,709 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 0.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $145,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3,500.0% during the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

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

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.86. 14,658,910 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $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. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

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.