Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Invests $10.07 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 170,170 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,074,000. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.5% of Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations’ portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.80 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $62.07 and its 200 day moving average is $58.36. The firm has a market cap of $245.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.