Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Holdings Cut by Capital Wealth Planning LLC

Capital Wealth Planning LLC decreased its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,878 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,090 shares during the quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 51,032 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,716,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907 shares during the last quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 57,948 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,084,000 after purchasing an additional 7,675 shares during the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 51,489 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,740,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 69,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.23 and a 200-day moving average of $56.87. The company has a market capitalization of $255.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. 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%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems 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.