Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. Acquires New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 102,779 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,085,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,067 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 396 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 11.1% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 89,637 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,771,000 after buying an additional 8,967 shares during the period. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.5% during the third quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 126,334 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,724,000 after buying an additional 3,034 shares during the period. Finally, Lewis Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 23.2% during the third quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 1,205 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

CSCO stock opened at $63.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.34. The stock has a market cap of $254.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

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.