Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.

Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 158,108 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 38,535 shares during the quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CSCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.69.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

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

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.