Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 816,294 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 15,330 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $49,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,075,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,402,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,383 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 purchasing an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $64.67. The company had a trading volume of 14,823,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,789,303. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.43 and a 200-day moving average of $55.95. The company has a market capitalization of $257.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

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.