Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Invests $232.31 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,924,099 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $232,307,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.10% of Cisco Systems at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,832,813 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,159,099,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 681,555 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSCO. New Street Research reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total value of $952,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 131,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,616 shares of company stock worth $2,640,095 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.81. 25,829,006 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,320,818. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $248.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $59.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

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

Cisco Systems Company 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.