HTLF Bank Invests $6.86 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 135,692 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,855,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,519,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,835,509,000 after buying an additional 59,466,550 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,028,781,000. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,943,593,000 after buying an additional 9,160,347 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 83.6% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,544,909 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $752,554,000 after buying an additional 6,621,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,879,450 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,664,544,000 after buying an additional 4,061,022 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.03.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,502,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,290,289. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month high of $58.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

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.