KLCM Advisors Inc. Sells 9,477 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

KLCM Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 288,132 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 9,477 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises about 2.0% of KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223,800 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.87 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.59. 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 $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

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.