Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Acquires 70,056 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 58.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 189,339 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,056 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.0% of Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 153,517 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,088,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 35,373 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,094,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525 shares during the last quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 9,319 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 178,373 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,560,000 after buying an additional 14,102 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

CSCO stock opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.64. The stock has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

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.