Gulf International Bank UK Ltd Acquires 3,192 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 319,474 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,192 shares during the quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $18,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 1,605,091 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $95,021,000 after acquiring an additional 33,300 shares during the last quarter. Apriem Advisors increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Apriem Advisors now owns 14,735 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $872,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Nwam LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 19,176 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,135,000 after buying an additional 606 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $169,000. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 44,869 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,656,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.08 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $254.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.61. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change 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 a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research 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.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.