Moors & Cabot Inc. Reduces Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 118,744 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 4,673 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO 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. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $61.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.60. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month 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.

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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 (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%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is 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 given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.

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