Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Chatham Capital Group Inc.

Chatham Capital Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 43.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 88,286 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 66,635 shares during the quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 193,478 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $11,454,000 after buying an additional 59,680 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,296 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlTi Global Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 49.8% in the 4th quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 20,483 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,217,000 after buying an additional 6,811 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CSCO. New Street Research restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $1.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.06. 20,913,335 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,116,730. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.61. 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 released its 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. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows 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 leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm'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 directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.