Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,537,633 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 42,928 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $91,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Cisco Systems Stock Performance
Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. 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 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $241.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company's 50-day moving average is $61.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.60.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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 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 share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
Cisco Systems Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. This is a boost 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 71.62%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.63.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading

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