Meridiem Capital Partners LP Purchases New Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Meridiem Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 579,410 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $34,301,000. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 3.0% of Meridiem Capital Partners LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 112,101 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,636,000 after acquiring an additional 5,123 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,670,000. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,539,557 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $91,142,000 after acquiring an additional 11,506 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $67.47.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.0%

CSCO traded down $0.64 on Friday, hitting $63.62. 30,263,445 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,420,202. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $58.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.60. 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 company has a market cap of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock worth $931,901. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.