88,253 Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Purchased by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 88,253 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,462,000. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $250,000. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 316.4% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 57,931 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,430,000 after purchasing an additional 44,020 shares during the period. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 227,935 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,494,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,063 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,759,000 after purchasing an additional 9,307 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $63.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $254.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

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.