Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 168,655 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,849,706 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 168,655 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 0.7% of Retirement Systems of Alabama's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.07% of Cisco Systems worth $175,855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% in the first 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 period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7%

CSCO traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $66.32. The stock had a trading volume of 50,354,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,278,229. The stock has a market capitalization of $262.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $61.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.78. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.65.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

About Cisco Systems

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.