Motco Lowers Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Motco cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,629 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,163 shares during the quarter. Motco’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $6,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. now owns 132,716 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $7,857,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares in the last quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 77,974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,616,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 32,287 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 6,660 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 61,745 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,655,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

CSCO opened at $63.81 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one 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 stock has a market cap of $253.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.66.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.