Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Holdings Raised by Board of the Pension Protection Fund

Board of the Pension Protection Fund lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 134.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,400 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th 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 period. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.1%

CSCO opened at $68.95 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $273.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.31 and its 200-day moving average is $61.02. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $69.25.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,450,653.14. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $265,789.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,103 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,921.53. This represents a 9.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.