Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Prudent Man Advisors LLC

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,957 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,666 shares during the period. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $257,000. Hamel Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $237,000. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 256,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $15,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,812 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 201,389 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,922,000 after buying an additional 6,333 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.79. The company has a market cap of $255.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.