Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by abrdn plc

abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,559,687 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 744,433 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.6% of abrdn plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. abrdn plc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $280,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of 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. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 59,466,550 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 3.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,069,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,356,141 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,975,139,000 after buying an additional 3,087,294 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Melius downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

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

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $48.32. The company had a trading volume of 20,964,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,323,960. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.07 and its 200 day moving average is $50.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Cisco Systems 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.