Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 55,707,852 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,297,905,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $10,074,000. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 772,846 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $45,752,000 after purchasing an additional 5,302 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,000. Howe & Rusling Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 17,547 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 1,486 shares during the period. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,053,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.3 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $61.80 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $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 PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.