Guggenheim Capital LLC Sells 67,196 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Guggenheim Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,190,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 67,196 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.1% of Guggenheim Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $129,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after buying an additional 216,632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $57.41 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.39 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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 predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. 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. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.74.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.