Sarasin & Partners LLP Sells 926,678 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sarasin & Partners LLP reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 34.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,758,949 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 926,678 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $108,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $265,789.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,103 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,921.53. The trade was a 9.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,573 shares of company stock valued at $4,392,619 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.91 during trading on Thursday, hitting $65.10. 15,141,425 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,609,000. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $257.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.49.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board 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.