Becker Capital Management Inc. Sells 14,364 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Becker Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 737,768 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 14,364 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.4% of Becker Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Becker Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $43,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment 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 MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $57.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $228.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.04, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.27. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year 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 results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.