Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Raises Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,223 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,022,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Melius cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.25 on Thursday, reaching $50.02. 6,955,403 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,742,605. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.78 and a 200-day moving average of $50.94. The firm has a market cap of $202.54 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 47.42%.

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.