Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 1,538 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lowered its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,810 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,538 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler raised their target price 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. Finally, 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.39 and its 200 day moving average is $57.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $251.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.