Cullen Investment Group LTD. Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 90,139 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,554,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 48.1% during the third quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,838,000 after buying an additional 23,194 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the third quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 64,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,448,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,685,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $240,335,000 after buying an additional 49,700 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,734,000 after buying an additional 1,097 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $48.71. 4,958,915 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,499,051. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $45.56 and a one year high of $58.19. The company’s 50 day moving average is $49.25 and its 200 day moving average is $50.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.63%.

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.