Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC Trims Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC lowered its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,999 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,117 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 105,069 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,592,000 after purchasing an additional 4,759 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 22.3% during the third quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 27,986 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,489,000 after buying an additional 5,101 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $32,665,000. B&L Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $412,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s 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. This represents a 1.70 % 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, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. 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. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $60.86 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $242.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.60.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

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 given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

About Cisco Systems

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.