BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Grows Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 764,211 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,961 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $45,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 112,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 5,123 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,670,000. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,539,557 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $91,142,000 after buying an additional 11,506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 257,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’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 value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,239 shares of company stock worth $2,181,437 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.42 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.81. The stock has a market cap of $252.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued 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 dividend yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.94%.

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.