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

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor 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’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $198,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.1 %

CSCO opened at $63.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.36. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $254.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.