California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 339,361 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,883,366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 339,361 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.6% of California Public Employees Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $881,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 212,406 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,574,000 after purchasing an additional 13,475 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,793,175 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $224,518,000 after buying an additional 608,664 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 13,880,257 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $821,711,000 after buying an additional 2,114,994 shares during the period. American Money Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 12,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, L & S Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 125.4% in the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 105,510 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,246,000 after acquiring an additional 58,696 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.