Flputnam Investment Management Co. Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 249,397 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 61,951 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $14,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $255.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company 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. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities 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, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.