Intellus Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 8,316 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $492,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,183,006 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $129,234,000 after buying an additional 34,103 shares during the last quarter. Plancorp LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 20,421 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,209,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 377,784 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $22,365,000 after acquiring an additional 116,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $338,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.95 and a 200-day moving average of $58.05. 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 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. 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. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.