Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $11.21 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 58.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,339 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 70,056 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.0% of Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cardinal Capital Management increased its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 153,517 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $9,088,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 35,373 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 5,525 shares during the period. Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 9,319 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 178,373 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $10,560,000 after purchasing an additional 14,102 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded down $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.40. The stock had a trading volume of 5,954,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,370,520. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.01. The firm has a market cap of $256.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CSCO. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.53.

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.