Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by SFE Investment Counsel

SFE Investment Counsel lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,767 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 553 shares during the quarter. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at $21,001,901.86. This represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $62.53 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $63.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

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

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.