Ieq Capital LLC Has $15.96 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 269,517 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,088 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $15,955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after buying an additional 162,544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.84 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $258.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.87%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Cisco Systems

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.