Primecap Management Co. CA Sells 165,779 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Primecap Management Co. CA lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,541,030 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 165,779 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $328,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.83 and a 200-day moving average of $57.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $242.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS 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%. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

About Cisco Systems

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.