Savant Capital LLC Trims Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Savant Capital LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 212,595 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 10,457 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,069,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790,717 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,717,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,682 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,536,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,802,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181,327 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $947,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,753,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,376,937 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $611,624,000 after acquiring an additional 405,699 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $46.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.90 and its 200 day moving average is $49.92. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.27 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

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.