ExodusPoint Capital Management LP Invests $37.16 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 627,726 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,161,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,703,949 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $143,877,000 after acquiring an additional 647,426 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 23.9% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 79,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,214,000 after purchasing an additional 15,285 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $798,000. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $798,000. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 579,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,841,000 after buying an additional 261,400 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.82 on Thursday. 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 of $62.16 and a 200 day moving average of $58.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.