Everstar Asset Management LLC Sells 2,805 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Everstar Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 23.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,055 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,805 shares during the quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’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 value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents 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 worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.86 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. 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. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.11 and a 200-day moving average of $58.60.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.