Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $7.82 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 132,074 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,911 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $560,722,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $62.11 and a 200-day moving average of $58.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.