Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by StoneX Group Inc.

StoneX Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 10.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,819 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,827 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $2.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $54.54. 42,919,326 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,717,433. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.81. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

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 (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, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Citigroup restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.