Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 214,231 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,595 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $12,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,646 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,584,000 after buying an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,537,633 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $91,028,000 after buying an additional 42,928 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,715 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $253,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $241.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $61.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.60. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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 forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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 2.70%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.