Enterprise Financial Services Corp Buys 1,003 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 15,012 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $560,722,000. FMR LLC increased 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 worth $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.94 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.39.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 over the last quarter. 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.