Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,448,169 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 343,959 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.9% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $144,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

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 directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 14,635 shares of company stock worth $931,901. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.62 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.69.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

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.