Stamos Capital Partners L.P. Decreases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Stamos Capital Partners L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 41.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,190 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 48,160 shares during the period. Stamos Capital Partners L.P.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $560,722,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 50.3% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,627,956 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $392,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,311 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 520.4% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,608,715 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $149,141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,188,252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research 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, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $65.74.

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Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.77. The stock had a trading volume of 828,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,022,721. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.83 billion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.08. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. 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 yield of 2.84%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.