Berkeley Capital Partners LLC Purchases 233 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Berkeley Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 42,982 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 233 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.7% of Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Swedbank AB raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 52.4% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $1,529,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.4% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,547,956 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $188,822,000 after purchasing an additional 150,539 shares during the period. Finally, R. W. Roge & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $211,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $61.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $243.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.97.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. On average, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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 dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

About Cisco Systems

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.