Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Trims Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,800 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,690 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.0% of Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CSM Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. CSM Advisors LLC now owns 31,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 123,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,338,000 after acquiring an additional 5,280 shares during the period. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC now owns 509,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,070 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,161,261 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,015,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,808,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.68.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $55.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.