Sherman Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,282 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,282 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $76,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Onefund LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Onefund LLC now owns 10,885 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $243,000. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 5,337 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, Hamel Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $237,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.14 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.87. 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 $255.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.