Northern Financial Advisors Inc Grows Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Northern Financial Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,448 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.01. 4,890,290 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,903,564. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.69. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.70 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The firm has a market cap of $194.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Barclays increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.53.

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.