Leuthold Group LLC Reduces Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Leuthold Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 106,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 239 shares during the period. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,753,165 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $179,207,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7,074.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,271,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $175,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,749,370 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $391,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,717,537,000 after buying an additional 1,847,682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,738,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,919,604. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $48.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.73. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.70 and a 1-year high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $191.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company 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.