CSM Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

CSM Advisors LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the quarter. CSM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 123,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $7,338,000 after buying an additional 5,280 shares in the last quarter. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC now owns 509,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,070 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,161,261 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,015,948,000 after buying an additional 1,943,563 shares in the last quarter. Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,808,000. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 13,059 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 2,259 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.68.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $55.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $218.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.16. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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.