Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,211,884 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 355,085 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.13% of Cisco Systems worth $308,544,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

CSCO stock opened at $60.30 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.17. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results 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, sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems 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.