Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Brightwater Advisory LLC

Brightwater Advisory LLC cut its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,861 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 169 shares during the period. Brightwater Advisory LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares in the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 31,563 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,680,000 after acquiring an additional 7,176 shares in the last quarter. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $874,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 4.3% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,819 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the third quarter. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.27 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.56. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $255.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Company 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.