Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Cozad Asset Management Inc.

Cozad Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 299 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.89 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. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.