Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Acquires New Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,288 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $76,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $560,722,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 3,582,670 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $190,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,730 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’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 value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $61.80 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.07 and its 200 day moving average is $58.36. The company has a market cap of $245.86 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.