Smithfield Trust Co Increases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Smithfield Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,814 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,150 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in 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 valued at $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position 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 buying an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $294,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.16. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $251.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.