Commerce Bank Sells 41,351 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 749,260 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 41,351 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $44,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after purchasing an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’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 $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value 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 $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $55.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.82 and its 200 day moving average is $59.06. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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