Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 32.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,565 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,247 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.0% of Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 11,916 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 2,860 shares in the last quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $222,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 44,624 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 550,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,560,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Finally, Rahlfs Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $274,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $54.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.91 and its 200 day moving average is $58.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.