Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 132,074 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,911 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $560,722,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after buying an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.54. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’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 directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.