USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 94,086 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

USS Investment Management Ltd lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 970,973 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 94,086 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $57,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,796,505,000 after buying an additional 4,832,813 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,741,597,000 after buying an additional 681,555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,161,261 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,015,948,000 after buying an additional 1,943,563 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.92 on Tuesday. 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 50-day moving average of $58.82 and a 200 day moving average of $59.78. The firm has a market cap of $254.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 owned by corporate 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.