Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Bought by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2,271.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,201 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,759 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Argentarii LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $268,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $23,999,000. United Community Bank grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. United Community Bank now owns 54,409 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,221,000 after buying an additional 1,365 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 66,920 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,962,000 after acquiring an additional 2,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 44,220 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.39. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. 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 announced 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%. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. 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. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.