Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 20.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 706,329 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 118,191 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.6% of Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $43,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 48,804 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 3,678 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 50,514 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,117,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 104,965 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,477,000 after buying an additional 27,712 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 134.0% in the 1st quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund now owns 12,400 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 7,100 shares during the period. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,697 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Seven 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $68.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $273.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.02. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $69.25.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.

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