Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Position Increased by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors raised its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 155,899 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,396 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,703,949 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $143,877,000 after purchasing an additional 647,426 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 23.9% during the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 79,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,214,000 after buying an additional 15,285 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at about $798,000. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $798,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 82.2% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 579,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,841,000 after acquiring an additional 261,400 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s 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 $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $61.82 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $62.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.79. The stock has a market cap of $245.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS 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%. Equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. 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 of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.