DnB Asset Management AS Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

DnB Asset Management AS trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,106,128 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,839 shares during the quarter. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $124,683,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. BBR Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $1,158,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the third quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 174,153 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,268,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. Tybourne Capital Management HK Ltd. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $744,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 175,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,336,000 after acquiring an additional 19,800 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.40 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $244.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.10 and a 200 day moving average of $58.38. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research 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, March 5th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % 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, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.