Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 648 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 17,547 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $5,053,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 479,274 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,373,000 after buying an additional 65,788 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,902,354 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $112,619,000 after acquiring an additional 18,425 shares during the period. Finally, Moment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,021,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $242.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems 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 transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.