Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 648 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 648 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

CSCO opened at $60.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $62.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

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

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.