Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 133,238 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,450 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $502,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.0% in the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,830,000 after purchasing an additional 92,179 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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 raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.87. 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.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

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.