Highland Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Highland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 68.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 9,210 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 1,484 shares during the period. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. OmniStar Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,622 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after buying an additional 1,591 shares during the period. Waterway Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $463,000. Trust Co of the South bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $411,000. Finally, Smith Anglin Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Smith Anglin Financial LLC now owns 4,677 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $49.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $201.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $45.56 and a 1 year high of $58.19. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.94.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 47.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.