Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC

Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,272 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,796,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,832,813 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,159,099,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637,006 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,741,597,000 after acquiring an additional 681,555 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CSCO. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $252.06 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.88. 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.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,431 shares of company stock worth $1,421,356. Company 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.