Drexel Morgan & Co. Invests $216,000 in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Drexel Morgan & Co. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $764,000. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,114 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Banco de Sabadell S.A increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Banco de Sabadell S.A now owns 42,362 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,504,000 after acquiring an additional 5,422 shares in the last quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 112.7% during the fourth quarter. Blueprint Investment Partners LLC now owns 17,527 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 9,285 shares during the period. Finally, Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $335,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.95 and a 200-day moving average of $58.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.