Kempner Capital Management Inc. Sells 19,396 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Kempner Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 20.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,727 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 19,396 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 2.5% of Kempner Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Kempner Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Oak Harvest Investment Services raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 153,238 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $9,072,000 after acquiring an additional 27,893 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,060,307 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $62,770,000 after purchasing an additional 121,010 shares during the last quarter. Cyr Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $627,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 916,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $54,113,000 after purchasing an additional 269,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $1,483,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $60.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $240.84 billion, a PE ratio of 25.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $59.34 and a 200-day moving average of $54.35. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $62.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. The trade was a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Company 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.

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