Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Kestra Investment Management LLC

Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 35,373 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,525 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $262,646,000 after buying an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.64. 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 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.