Ardmore Road Asset Management LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ardmore Road Asset Management LP increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 33.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 400,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises about 3.5% of Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $23,680,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after buying an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,214,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $988,499,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,469 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $61.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.