Impax Asset Management Group plc Cuts Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Impax Asset Management Group plc lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 165,880 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 17,299 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Pflug Koory LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management raised its position in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.24 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $60.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $251.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 79,729 shares of company stock worth $5,058,748 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently 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.