Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 11.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,145,092 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 682,021 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Cisco Systems worth $273,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 226.9% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,423 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,339 shares in the last quarter. PFG Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 21,311 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 120,110 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,213 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp increased its position in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,128,571 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $56,327,000 after buying an additional 6,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nvwm LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.2% in the first quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 24,434 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,220,000 after buying an additional 976 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares in the company, valued at $33,794,278.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,794,278.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,376,085.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $57.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,129,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,935,887. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $58.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $53.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 62.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Despite investors’ hopes for a rebound in Networking Equipment demand to boost Cisco’s fourth-quarter 2024 performance, the anticipation is tempered by limited indications of a significant recovery in demand. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.74.

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.