Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Purchases New Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 125,803 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,448,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,627,956 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $392,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 520.4% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,608,715 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $149,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,252 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $57.41 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.08. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $228.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.74.

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.