RWC Asset Management LLP Sells 658,983 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

RWC Asset Management LLP trimmed its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 42.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 900,120 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 658,983 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 2.7% of RWC Asset Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. RWC Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $53,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 171,490 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,127,000 after acquiring an additional 10,895 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 8,586,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $452,526,000 after acquiring an additional 347,061 shares during the period. Mattern Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 169,711 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 68,758 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,659,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.1 %

CSCO opened at $63.98 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.30.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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 paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 69.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.