Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Palouse Capital Management Inc.

Palouse Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 781 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.9% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.07 and a 200 day moving average of $55.54.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.