Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 34,451 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,508 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after buying an additional 216,632 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value 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 $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CSCO. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $55.73 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.06. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders 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 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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.