Schroder Investment Management Group Acquires 608,664 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,793,175 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 608,664 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned approximately 0.10% of Cisco Systems worth $224,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $560,722,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $477,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.11 and a 200 day moving average of $58.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.