FIL Ltd Has $1.29 Billion Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

FIL Ltd cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,717,661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,422,759 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.2% of FIL Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,285,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $54.41 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $216.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.94.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.