Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,030,598 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 230,415 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.6% of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.10% of Cisco Systems worth $238,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.00 and a 200 day moving average of $58.25. The firm has a market cap of $242.56 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value 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 $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.