Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 220,212 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,389 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $13,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.94 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.44.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

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

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.