Northern Trust Corp Acquires 4,832,813 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,832,813 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.19% of Cisco Systems worth $2,796,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $56.71 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $225.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems 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 $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.68.

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.