Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Acquires 441,128 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,623,066 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 441,128 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.09% of Cisco Systems worth $214,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $60.89 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.88. 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 capitalization of $242.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.