Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Prudential PLC

Prudential PLC reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 26.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 422,299 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 154,485 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $25,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $3,297,905,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,214,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $988,499,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,469 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $57.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.78. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week 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.

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Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.41 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" 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 research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems 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.

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