Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Bought by Global Retirement Partners LLC

Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,244 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,194 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,869,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted 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 worth $10,297,506,000 after buying an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 buying an additional 216,632 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.84 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $60.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.95. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $258.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.