Slate Path Capital LP Sells 978,800 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Slate Path Capital LP trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,362,872 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 978,800 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 4.7% of Slate Path Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Slate Path Capital LP owned 0.11% of Cisco Systems worth $258,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $54.37 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.