Hamel Associates Inc. Makes New $237,000 Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Hamel Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,005 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $255.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.01, 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.