Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Monarch Capital Management Inc.

Monarch Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 143,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises about 2.3% of Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Monarch Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,261,185,000 after buying an additional 1,530,468 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $60.23 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $58.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.52. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $60.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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 note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.50.

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.