BluePath Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

BluePath Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,449 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,636 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.7% of BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in 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 in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Bank of America lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.28.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $59.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $60.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.34.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.