ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Sells 729 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 51,865 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 729 shares during the period. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 366,454 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $21,694,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares during the last quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Werba Rubin Papier Wealth Management now owns 9,803 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 82,244 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,869,000 after buying an additional 3,194 shares during the period. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,553 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $325,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.4 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $257.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given 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 dividend yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.