O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 595,010 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,526 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $35,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 124,552 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,373,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the period. United Bank increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. United Bank now owns 29,908 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $181,000. RWA Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 212,406 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,574,000 after purchasing an additional 13,475 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,793,175 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $224,518,000 after acquiring an additional 608,664 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $62.11 and its 200 day moving average is $58.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Company 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.