Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Reduces Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich reduced its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 39.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 367,376 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 239,701 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $23,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.94 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.39.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.