ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,596,023 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 815,994 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.8% of ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.14% of Cisco Systems worth $331,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,796,505,000 after purchasing an additional 4,832,813 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,741,597,000 after purchasing an additional 681,555 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,161,261 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,015,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,563 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems 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 trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock worth $931,901 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.0%

CSCO traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $63.62. The company had a trading volume of 30,263,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,413,777. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. 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 company has a market capitalization of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $58.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.69.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.