114,873 Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Purchased by Heritage Trust Co

Heritage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 114,873 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,800,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $56.59 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. 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 stock has a market cap of $225.13 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.98.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.