Excalibur Management Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Excalibur Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,838 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.0% of Excalibur Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Excalibur Management Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $16,798,000. Truvestments Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.8% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $1,503,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 87.9% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $294,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the third quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 170,379 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,068,000 after acquiring an additional 3,687 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock opened at $60.99 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.34. The company has a market capitalization of $242.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.63, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.