Tortoise Investment Management LLC Sells 335 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Tortoise Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,035 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $62.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $246.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.10, 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.53.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded 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 investment 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, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.