Fayez Sarofim & Co Reduces Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Fayez Sarofim & Co decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,578 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 627 shares during the quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position 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. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % 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 valued at $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.5 %

CSCO stock opened at $54.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $216.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.