Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,483 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $262,646,000 after buying an additional 4,842,542 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,463,000 after buying an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded down $0.73 on Friday, reaching $63.95. The company had a trading volume of 8,226,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,441,154. The company's fifty day moving average is $60.55 and its 200 day moving average is $56.01. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $254.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.