Rahlfs Capital LLC Makes New $274,000 Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Rahlfs Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,625 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $274,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hemenway Trust Co LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Hemenway Trust Co LLC now owns 5,730 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 285,970 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,929,000 after purchasing an additional 29,500 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 195,006 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $11,544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,429,241 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $499,011,000 after acquiring an additional 182,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perennial Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,586 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.8 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $54.54 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $216.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.81. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % 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 valued at $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.