Machina Capital S.A.S. Has $2.71 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Machina Capital S.A.S. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 294.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,796 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 34,176 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.1% of Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $502,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Seven 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.63.

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Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.8 %

CSCO stock traded up $0.53 on Friday, reaching $63.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,153,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,042,023. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.39. The firm has a market cap of $254.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.