Sandy Spring Bank Has $7.36 Million Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sandy Spring Bank decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 55,822 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $61.12 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $243.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its 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, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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