Gabelli Funds LLC Has $2.22 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 37,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 190 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in 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 during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $55.73 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.08. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.