Legal & General Group Plc Sells 14,308,688 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 28.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,682,691 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 14,308,688 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up 0.6% of Legal & General Group Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.90% of Cisco Systems worth $2,112,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC now owns 34,881 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after purchasing an additional 7,326 shares during the last quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 250.0% in the 4th quarter. Ritter Daniher Financial Advisory LLC DE now owns 700 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 789,143 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $46,694,000 after acquiring an additional 105,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 197,008 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $11,663,000 after acquiring an additional 12,268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $54.54 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Company 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.