Southeast Asset Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Southeast Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the period. Southeast Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after purchasing an additional 216,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,214,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $988,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 4.8 %

CSCO stock opened at $54.54 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.92. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. 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 payout ratio is 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.