Freedom Investment Management Inc. Lowers Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,451 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,508 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’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 $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $55.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.06.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.