Value Partners Investments Inc. Sells 1,610,374 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Value Partners Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 94.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 103,329 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,610,374 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 3.4% of Value Partners Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Value Partners Investments Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $6,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Pflug Koory LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,100 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target 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. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.11 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.05 and a 200-day moving average of $59.94. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $249.92 billion, a PE ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

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

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the 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 directly owns 257,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,431 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,356. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.