Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Has $31.96 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 539,796 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,139 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 2.6% of Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $31,956,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

CSCO stock opened at $63.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day moving average is $57.39. The stock has a market cap of $254.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.