Rakuten Securities Inc. Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 860 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. United Bank bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter worth approximately $645,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 32.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,243,073 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $236,593,000 after buying an additional 1,040,607 shares in the last quarter. Roundview Capital LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 10,540 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 1,221 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 21.5% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,763 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $656,000 after buying an additional 2,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.1% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,429,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $135,470,000 after buying an additional 182,857 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSCO. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $48.11 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $49.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.29. The company has a market capitalization of $194.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.63%.

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.