Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,354 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 10,288 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $64.67. The stock had a trading volume of 14,823,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,789,303. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm's 50 day moving average is $60.43 and its 200-day moving average is $55.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business'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 $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.