Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Purchases 17,063 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 467,932 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,063 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $27,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $294,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.71 on Wednesday, reaching $63.97. 8,429,300 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,775,352. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $61.39 and a 200-day moving average of $57.16. The company has a market capitalization of $254.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.95, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.