Equity Investment Corp Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Equity Investment Corp cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,252,877 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 41,193 shares during the quarter. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $74,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.08 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $254.93 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.61. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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%. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management 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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. UBS Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

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.