Longbow Finance SA Increases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Longbow Finance SA lifted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,523 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.0% of Longbow Finance SA’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Longbow Finance SA’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FMR LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake 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 valued at $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in 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 Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other 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 value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 79,729 shares of company stock valued at $5,058,748. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $251.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.42. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month 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 released its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program 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 programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

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.