USS Investment Management Ltd Trims Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

USS Investment Management Ltd trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 970,973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 94,086 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $57,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pflug Koory LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5%

CSCO opened at $63.92 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $58.82 and a 200-day moving average of $59.78. The stock has a market cap of $254.29 billion, a PE ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock worth $931,901. 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.