SRN Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

SRN Advisors LLC cut its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,865 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,077 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.3% of SRN Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. SRN Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 4.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.0% in the third quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,104 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 42,090 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,227 shares during the period. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 33,858 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after buying an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.61. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $254.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.