Hardy Reed LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Hardy Reed LLC reduced its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 38.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,721 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,625 shares during the quarter. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.84 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $258.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.