Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,192,658 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 246,671 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned 0.08% of Cisco Systems worth $189,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position 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 period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.63.

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Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $60.97. 28,313,023 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,050,482. The stock has a market cap of $242.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.17. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board 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.