Oppenheimer & Close LLC Reduces Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Oppenheimer & Close LLC decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,141 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 3.4% of Oppenheimer & Close LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Oppenheimer & Close LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $502,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.30 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $61.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.11.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.