Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Invests $10.07 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 170,170 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,074,000. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.5% of Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 19,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,531 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 197,604 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,516,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 6.7% in the third quarter. Insight Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,801 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 108.7% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 3,582,670 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $190,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 28.9% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 91,172 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after buying an additional 20,458 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $61.80 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.36. 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 capitalization of $245.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

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

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.