Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Essex LLC

Essex LLC lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,635 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,226 shares during the quarter. Essex LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. The trade was a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $62.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $63.25. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.98. The company has a market cap of $248.01 billion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

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.