Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,034 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 290 shares during the quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MSH Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $2,311,000. Zacks Investment Management raised its position in Cisco Systems by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 2,048,300 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $121,259,000 after acquiring an additional 89,387 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 113.7% in the fourth quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,191 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,891 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 143.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,986,627 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $295,208,000 after purchasing an additional 2,936,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 422,861 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $25,033,000 after purchasing an additional 25,069 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $55.76 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’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 transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.74.

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.