American Century Companies Inc. Has $415.89 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,025,142 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 897,065 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.18% of Cisco Systems worth $415,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.05. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’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 $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.