Scotia Capital Inc. Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Scotia Capital Inc. trimmed its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 550,137 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 86,106 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $32,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $560,722,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,627,956 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $392,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,311 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 520.4% during the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,608,715 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $149,141,000 after buying an additional 2,188,252 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSCO. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

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Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $57.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,465,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,054,884. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $61.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $228.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost 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 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % 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 valued at $4,275,553. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.