River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

River Road Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 32.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,328 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 58,728 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wallace Hart LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Global View Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $500,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc raised its position in Cisco Systems by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc now owns 2,429 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 181,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $10,715,000 after buying an additional 24,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 39,134 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,317,000 after buying an additional 1,647 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.63.

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Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $241.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.72 and a 200 day moving average of $57.60.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.

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