Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Heartland Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,728 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,045 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 175,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,336,000 after acquiring an additional 19,800 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 74.7% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,326 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,160,000 after purchasing an additional 41,625 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,812 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,651,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,879,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,028,000 after buying an additional 34,493 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 105,069 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,592,000 after acquiring an additional 4,759 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

CSCO stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors 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 given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change 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 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.