Mariner LLC Buys 224,528 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 12.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,070,959 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 224,528 shares during the period. Mariner LLC owned 0.05% of Cisco Systems worth $122,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th 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. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $65.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.47 on Thursday, hitting $56.23. The company had a trading volume of 7,978,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,069,495. The company has a market capitalization of $223.71 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company's fifty day moving average price is $60.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.05. 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is 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.