Sarasin & Partners LLP Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sarasin & Partners LLP cut its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,685,627 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 239,475 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.8% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned about 0.07% of Cisco Systems worth $158,989,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $242,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 13.7% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,041,220 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $96,984,000 after acquiring an additional 245,780 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 18.8% during the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 223,121 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $10,600,000 after purchasing an additional 35,302 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 27.5% in the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 220,894 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $10,495,000 after purchasing an additional 47,590 shares during the period. Finally, Holderness Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the second quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 85,215 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,049,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $3,345,228.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $60.23. The stock had a trading volume of 23,800,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,184,370. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $60.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.50.

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.