Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Position Lowered by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 34.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 94,483 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 48,800 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 42,982 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 691,755 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $40,952,000 after acquiring an additional 229,823 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $1,037,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,527,760 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $149,643,000 after acquiring an additional 216,416 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Bankshares Inc raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 991,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $58,702,000 after acquiring an additional 4,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 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 $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.98.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.