Financial Counselors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Financial Counselors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,111,227 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,564 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.0% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $65,785,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Trust Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 30,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. Summitry LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 94,019 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,566,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598 shares during the period. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $235,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.0 %

CSCO stock opened at $60.99 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $242.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.34.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

About Cisco Systems

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.