Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stake Increased by Oarsman Capital Inc.

Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,841 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 534 shares during the quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the 4th 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 13,880,257 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $821,711,000 after acquiring an additional 2,114,994 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 4.8 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $54.54 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.81. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change 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 yield of 3.01%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.