Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. reduced its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 30.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,776 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,347 shares during the quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $993,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’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 $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’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 trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $61.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $255.15 billion, a PE ratio of 28.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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%. On average, 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 repurchase plan 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded 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. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.