Romano Brothers AND Company Sells 2,777 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 153,446 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,777 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 1.2% of Romano Brothers AND Company’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,796,505,000 after purchasing an additional 4,832,813 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,159,099,000 after buying an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,741,597,000 after buying an additional 681,555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,616 shares of company stock worth $2,640,095. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CSCO. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.85 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.17. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

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.