New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $11.37 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 192,074 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,900 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.87 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.42.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Bank of America increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

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.