Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stake Reduced by Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 123,882 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 701 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.1% of Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $60.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.35. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $62.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Corporate 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.