Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC Decreases Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC cut its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,725 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after purchasing an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,214,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $988,499,000 after buying an additional 1,195,469 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.30 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.95 and its 200-day moving average is $58.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.