Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,854,190 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 147,062 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $109,768,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of CSCO traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $63.79. 5,381,591 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,275,660. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.99. The firm has a market cap of $252.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,431 shares of company stock worth $1,421,356 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

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.