Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 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 note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.95 and a 200 day moving average of $58.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

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.