Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 50.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,627,956 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,219,311 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.17% of Cisco Systems worth $392,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Pflug Koory LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.71 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Research analysts expect 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 repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems 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.