Holderness Investments Co. Decreases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Holderness Investments Co. cut its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,337 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.1% of Holderness Investments Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Holderness Investments Co.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,052,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 45,982 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,722,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680 shares during the last quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 42,982 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.8% during the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 691,755 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $40,952,000 after acquiring an additional 229,823 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $1,037,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,527,760 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $149,643,000 after buying an additional 216,416 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $61.12 on Thursday. 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 of $61.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.97. The stock has a market cap of $243.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is 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.