Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Bought by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 289.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 217,959 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,933 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Trust raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.5% during the third quarter. Legacy Trust now owns 6,908 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 767 shares during the period. Essex LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the third quarter. Essex LLC now owns 64,458 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,465,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.4% during the third quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 12,754 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $684,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the period. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Columbia Trust Co 01012016 increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 7,726 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 939 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,948,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,340,549. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.56 and a 1-year high of $58.19. The company has a market cap of $195.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.13.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

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.