Utah Retirement Systems Cuts Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Utah Retirement Systems lessened its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 662,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,800 shares during the quarter. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $39,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Evergreen Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 20,248 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the period. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $659,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 114,448 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,775,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $539,000. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 349,360 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $20,682,000 after purchasing an additional 34,129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $57.34 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $228.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.27.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.05.

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.