Xponance Inc. Raises Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 678,696 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 90,388 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $40,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pflug Koory LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $242.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.