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

Natural Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,810 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $817,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.2 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.72 and a 200-day moving average of $57.60.

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Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on 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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