Vertex Planning Partners LLC Takes $243,000 Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,110 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 7,338 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.10 and a 200 day moving average of $58.38. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.