Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,103 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.1%

Cisco Systems stock opened at $65.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.46. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.94%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,573 shares of company stock worth $4,392,619 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.