First Business Financial Services Inc. Acquires 1,127 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 52,106 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 327.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in 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 during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 87.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $294,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,591,684 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $63.96 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction 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 represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 over the last ninety days. Company 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.