Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Strategic Advocates LLC

Strategic Advocates LLC trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 22.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,768 shares during the quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,402,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,383 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after purchasing an additional 216,632 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $60.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $240.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $62.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.72.

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.