US Bancorp DE Decreases Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

US Bancorp DE lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,022,050 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 225,534 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $238,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 201,389 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,922,000 after acquiring an additional 6,333 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $355,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,148,000. Finally, Waterway Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,958 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % 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 worth $4,767,206 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $61.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $255.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.