Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Pzena Investment Management LLC

Pzena Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,857,059 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 371,505 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $109,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, 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 directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CSCO. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $62.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $246.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.53. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

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.