Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 120,300 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,335,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 120,300 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 0.8% of Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $79,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.98 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.65 and its 200 day moving average is $56.22. 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 $254.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

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.