KBC Group NV Sells 65,952 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

KBC Group NV decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,922,307 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 65,952 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $113,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FMR LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,542 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after buying an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $62.23 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.22 and a 200 day moving average of $54.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 4.59 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 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $62.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.