Two Sigma Investments LP Decreases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Two Sigma Investments LP reduced its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 26.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,359,355 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 1,186,189 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP owned about 0.08% of Cisco Systems worth $198,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $413,491,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 187.9% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,478,872 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $442,749,000 after buying an additional 4,880,747 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.50 on Tuesday, reaching $63.42. The stock had a trading volume of 14,991,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,368,936. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $252.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.94%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 90 days, insiders have sold 34,239 shares of company stock worth $2,181,437. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.