Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 28,499 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• The Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. by 13.2%, selling 28,499 shares during the 1st quarter, resulting in a total holding of 186,659 shares worth approximately $11.5 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Brighton Jones LLC and Revolve Wealth Partners LLC, have increased their stakes in Cisco, with one firm boosting its holdings by nearly 50% in the last quarter.
• Cisco Systems announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, representing a 2.4% yield, with a current payout ratio of 66.94%.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 186,659 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 28,499 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 224.7% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $1.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $71.79. 31,389,613 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,692,797. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $72.02. The company has a market capitalization of $284.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business's 50 day moving average is $67.49 and its 200-day moving average is $63.03.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 688,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total value of $1,027,222.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,281,257.36. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.