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

Natixis lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 26.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,326,950 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 824,762 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 0.8% of Natixis' investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Natixis owned about 0.06% of Cisco Systems worth $137,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Norinchukin Bank The boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 225,593 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $13,355,000 after buying an additional 14,341 shares in the last quarter. Ossiam grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 74,781 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,427,000 after purchasing an additional 4,522 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in Cisco Systems by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 1,142,895 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $67,659,000 after purchasing an additional 178,583 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,741,597,000 after buying an additional 681,555 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,265,400 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $134,112,000 after purchasing an additional 64,165 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised shares of 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.68.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of CSCO traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $56.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,585,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,111,857. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50-day moving average is $60.35 and its 200-day moving average is $59.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Company 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.