Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $108.55 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sarasin & Partners LLP trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 34.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,758,949 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 926,678 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $108,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CSCO. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,796,505,000 after buying an additional 4,832,813 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,159,099,000 after buying an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,741,597,000 after buying an additional 681,555 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $65.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $260.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 66.94%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,564,439. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.