Watchman Group Inc. Sells 1,701 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Watchman Group Inc. reduced its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,701 shares during the period. Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised 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. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Cisco Systems

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.