Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,787 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pflug Koory LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.98 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. 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 yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

About Cisco Systems

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.