Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 346.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 15,641 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,141 shares during the quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $926,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.87 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. 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 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 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, 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 quarter, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. Corporate 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.