Monument Capital Management Acquires 2,947 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Monument Capital Management boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 26.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,056 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,947 shares during the period. Monument Capital Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.87 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.59. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.