AdvisorShares Investments LLC Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,100 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,796,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,832,813 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,741,597,000 after acquiring an additional 681,555 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.39 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $58.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,404,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,245,710. 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 $59.30 and a 200 day moving average of $59.29. The company has a market capitalization of $231.22 billion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.05.

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.