Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $4.77 Billion Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 80,518,869 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,201,386 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for about 0.9% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,766,717,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.0 %

CSCO opened at $63.48 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.06. 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 $252.54 billion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.