State of Wyoming Increases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

State of Wyoming increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1,450.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,673 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,630 shares during the period. State of Wyoming’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $603,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 39.6% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 46,338 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,743,000 after buying an additional 13,155 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 74,729 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,424,000 after buying an additional 2,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chemistry Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $63.62 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.75 and its 200 day moving average is $59.69. The company has a market capitalization of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock 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 buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

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.