Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd cut its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 970,973 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 94,086 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $57,457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after buying an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 112,101 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,636,000 after buying an additional 5,123 shares during the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $1,670,000. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,539,557 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $91,142,000 after buying an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, 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 value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,431 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,356 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CSCO. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.4%

Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $63.11. The stock had a trading volume of 15,644,520 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,300,665. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.93. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $251.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

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

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.