Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $161.68 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,038,015 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 109,772 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $161,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aviso Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.6% during the third quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 11,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, HSBC raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. The trade was a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $58.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $57.01 and its 200 day moving average is $51.24. The stock has a market cap of $233.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $60.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

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 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.