Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is Freedom Together Foundation’s 10th Largest Position

Freedom Together Foundation trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 79.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,958 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 182,000 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 0.3% of Freedom Together Foundation’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Freedom Together Foundation’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.1 %

CSCO opened at $59.77 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $58.78 and its 200-day moving average is $59.43. 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 capitalization of $237.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.