Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $14.33 Million Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 242,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 72,817 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.6% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $14,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. The trade was a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.94.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.2 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $62.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $63.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors 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 paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

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.