Generali Investments Management Co LLC Purchases New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Generali Investments Management Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 44,507 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,635,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $560,722,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $10,297,506,000 after buying an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.32 on Friday, reaching $60.30. The stock had a trading volume of 65,885,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,008,743. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The business's 50-day moving average price is $61.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.11. 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 market cap of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.63.

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.