Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 18,699 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 215,158 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 18,699 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $12,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 65,885,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,008,743. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.95 and a 200-day moving average of $58.11.

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Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.