Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $293.91 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,964,731 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 180,361 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Cisco Systems worth $293,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CSCO. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.