LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Has $544,000 Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 42.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,744 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.48 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.32 and its 200 day moving average is $57.06. The stock has a market cap of $252.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership 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 $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.