Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 56,529 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 10,328 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $59.77 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $237.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.45.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly 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%. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.74%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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.