SGL Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 288 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,508 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC increased its position 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 valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $413,491,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock worth $931,901. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $255.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.60. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.