Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 700 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,700 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after buying an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,017 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $3,297,905,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after purchasing an additional 216,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,214,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $988,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,469 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

CSCO stock opened at $60.86 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.11 and a 200-day moving average of $58.60. The stock has a market capitalization 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.