QRG Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 790,217 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,006 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $46,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,819 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,104 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 42,090 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 33,858 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,802,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.08 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.61.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.