Novem Group Purchases Shares of 10,968 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Novem Group acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 10,968 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $649,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $603,000. Pure Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,247 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 38,721 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares in the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 13,301 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $787,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 17,567 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,040,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. New Street Research restated a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.25 on Friday, reaching $63.11. 15,644,520 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,300,665. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $251.07 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $59.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.93.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

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

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 stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,431 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,356 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.