Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 150,000 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 37.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 550,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $32,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rahlfs Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Hemenway Trust Co LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 5,730 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Payden & Rygel increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 285,970 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,929,000 after purchasing an additional 29,500 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 195,006 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $11,544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,429,241 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $499,011,000 after buying an additional 182,483 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.8 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $54.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.81.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.