Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Has $69.58 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,175,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 67,866 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for about 3.0% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $69,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $54.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $216.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.94. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

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.