Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stake Raised by Naples Global Advisors LLC

Naples Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 145,117 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 739 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 0.8% of Naples Global Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Naples Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 57.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $58,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $60,979,000 after buying an additional 38,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings 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. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5.7% during the third quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 287,979 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,424,000 after buying an additional 15,489 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $62.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $63.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.31. The stock has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.