Howard Capital Management Inc. Purchases 9,307 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 131,063 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,307 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.22. The firm has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 programs are usually a sign that the company’s management 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

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.