Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC Invests $247,000 in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,169 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% in 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 last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $262,646,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $3,345,228.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $62.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $249.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.36. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $63.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly 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 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Cisco Systems

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.