Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $16.21 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 313,259 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 12,099 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $16,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. United Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter valued at $645,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 32.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,243,073 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $236,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040,607 shares during the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 10,540 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 1,221 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,763 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,429,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $135,470,000 after acquiring an additional 182,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $56.04 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.60 and a 1 year high of $58.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.20 and its 200-day moving average is $51.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 16th. The network equipment provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.08. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 22.13% and a return on equity of 33.42%. The company had revenue of $15.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 4th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.81%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 17,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.16, for a total value of $975,614.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 716,191 shares in the company, valued at $39,505,095.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 17,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.16, for a total value of $975,614.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 716,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,505,095.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 2,579 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.65, for a total transaction of $130,626.35. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 281,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,257,620.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,438 shares of company stock worth $2,948,779 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $59.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.43.

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 that are standalone, controller appliance-based, switch-converged, and Meraki cloud-managed offerings; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.