DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main Increases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,047,789 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 221,864 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main owned 0.08% of Cisco Systems worth $180,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised 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 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $59.55 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $236.91 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 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.