United Bank Raises Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

United Bank grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 29,908 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,589 shares during the quarter. United Bank’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $181,000. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 212,406 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $12,574,000 after acquiring an additional 13,475 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,793,175 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $224,518,000 after acquiring an additional 608,664 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 13,880,257 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $821,711,000 after acquiring an additional 2,114,994 shares during the period. Finally, American Money Management LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 12,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50-day moving average is $62.11 and its 200 day moving average is $58.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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 of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of 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 shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 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.