160,264 Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Purchased by Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 160,264 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,488,000. Cisco Systems makes up 2.3% of Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Montis Financial LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 7,852 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares in the last quarter. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 613,072 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,294,000 after buying an additional 7,634 shares in the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 51,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,042,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Finally, J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.50 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $240.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.70.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 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 value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.