Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Position Trimmed by Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC

Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,344 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,098 shares during the quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. CORDA Investment Management LLC. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 38,611 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,286,000 after buying an additional 11,451 shares in the last quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 181,902 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,769,000 after acquiring an additional 5,734 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 790,217 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,781,000 after purchasing an additional 35,006 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $314,000. Finally, Motiv8 Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 20,999 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,243,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.81 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.66. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $253.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. 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 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.