Cornerstone Capital Inc. Cuts Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cornerstone Capital Inc. decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 315,844 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 62,550 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 2.0% of Cornerstone Capital Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Cornerstone Capital Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $18,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was 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 through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CSCO. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $64.68.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.8 %

CSCO traded up $0.97 on Wednesday, hitting $56.01. 15,585,609 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,111,716. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.16.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 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.