V Square Quantitative Management LLC Sells 2,490 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC decreased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,025 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,490 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.84 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a PEG 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current 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 often an indication that the company’s management 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems 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.