South Plains Financial Inc. Makes New $425,000 Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,174 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $425,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.0 %

CSCO traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.31. 6,030,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,190,944. The company has a market cap of $235.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company's fifty day moving average price is $59.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.05.

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.