Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 1,533,672 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 387,084,206 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,533,672 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 0.4% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.72% of Cisco Systems worth $22,915,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average of $61.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Company 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.