Payden & Rygel Has $16.93 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Payden & Rygel boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 285,970 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,500 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 1.5% of Payden & Rygel's holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Payden & Rygel's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $16,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pflug Koory LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.00.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $53.53. The company had a trading volume of 10,481,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,885,139. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve 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 market capitalization of $212.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day moving average is $61.56 and its 200 day moving average is $58.91.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This 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 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.