Sovereign s Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sovereign s Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 35,767 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,117,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $413,491,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 187.9% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,478,872 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $442,749,000 after purchasing an additional 4,880,747 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on 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 $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.62 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $253.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised 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. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

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.