Claret Asset Management Corp Sells 2,067 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Claret Asset Management Corp lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 259,967 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,067 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 2.4% of Claret Asset Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Claret Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $15,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,741,597,000 after acquiring an additional 681,555 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,265,400 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $134,112,000 after purchasing an additional 64,165 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 41,168 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after purchasing an additional 9,380 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 30,783 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after buying an additional 2,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 6,683,541 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $395,269,000 after buying an additional 382,804 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.1 %

CSCO stock opened at $55.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.08. The company has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

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.