Ieq Capital LLC Acquires 10,088 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 269,517 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,088 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $15,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted 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 valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value 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 approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $63.99. 8,846,510 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,449,891. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $60.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week 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.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. 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 yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

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

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.