Confluence Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Confluence Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,803,001 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 16,419 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.5% of Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $106,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,254,739,000 after buying an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $262,646,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $59.39. 3,995,331 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,212,635. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.18 and a 200-day moving average of $52.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The business’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $3,345,228.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.28.

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.