Principal Securities Inc. Buys 12,889 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 25.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 63,921 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 12,889 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $262,646,000 after buying an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,463,000 after buying an additional 3,975,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $10,297,506,000 after buying an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.67. The stock had a trading volume of 14,823,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,789,303. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $60.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.