New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $333.36 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,631,112 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 86,143 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.14% of Cisco Systems worth $333,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $257.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

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

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 2.54%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Barclays upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company 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.