Phoenix Financial Ltd. Increases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 90.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 62,059 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 29,466 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.74.

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Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.08 on Tuesday, hitting $57.33. 4,578,310 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,036,614. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $228.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's 50-day moving average is $61.19 and its 200 day moving average is $59.08.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 71.62%.

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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.