Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Buys Shares of 4,425 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,425 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in 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 period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in 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 buying an additional 216,632 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $59.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.32. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $236.03 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in 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 usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company 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.