West Family Investments Inc. Sells 576 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

West Family Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,796 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 576 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $560,722,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.25.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.