North Forty Two & Co. Buys New Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 8,317 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was 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, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of CSCO traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.30. 65,885,624 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,008,743. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The business's 50-day moving average price is $61.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. 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%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.63.

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.