Sage Mountain Advisors LLC Raises Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sage Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,134 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,647 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lifted 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, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $62.06 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. 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 company has a market capitalization of $246.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $61.69 and a 200-day moving average of $57.53.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase 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 buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 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.