Public Sector Pension Investment Board Trims Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board has reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 30.0%, now holding 617,672 shares valued at approximately $38.1 million.
• Goldman Sachs and other institutional investors have increased their positions in Cisco, with Goldman Sachs acquiring an additional 12.8 million shares, raising its total to nearly 47 million shares worth about $2.9 billion.
• Cisco recently reported a 1st quarter earnings per share of $0.96, exceeding analysts' expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 with a yield of 2.3%.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 30.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 617,672 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 264,119 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $38,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 46,973,293 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,898,722,000 after acquiring an additional 12,775,066 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter valued at $750,495,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1,144.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,120,886 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $501,140,000 after acquiring an additional 7,468,212 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. 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. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.7%

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $71.79 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $72.02. The firm has a market cap of $284.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 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 company's 50 day moving average is $67.49 and its 200-day moving average is $63.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. 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 firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS 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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total transaction of $154,072.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

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