Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,348 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,400 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 1.6% of Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $88,261,000 after acquiring an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $502,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $59.55 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $62.31. The firm has a market cap of $237.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.