Garland Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,020 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Garland Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 97,554 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,020 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 4.7% of Garland Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Garland Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $560,722,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.05. The company has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems 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.