WoodTrust Financial Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

WoodTrust Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 49.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,541 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,113 shares during the quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $502,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.3 %

CSCO stock opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $251.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.39 and a 200 day moving average of $57.16.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.