Bell Asset Management Ltd Sells 78,193 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bell Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 38.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 123,586 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 78,193 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.3% of Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $54.54 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.92.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.