Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Has $50.84 Million Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lessened its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 859,612 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 161,300 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $50,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $502,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.46 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.62.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.