Aberdeen Group plc Decreases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc reduced its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.5% in Q1, now owning 5,685,759 shares, making it its 20th largest position.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Cisco during Q4, with Brighton Jones LLC growing its position by 49.5% and other firms also significantly increasing their ownership.
• Analysts have revised Cisco's price targets upward, with Piper Sandler estimating a target of $70 and Citigroup at $71, indicating strong institutional interest and confidence in the company's performance.

Aberdeen Group plc lowered its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,685,759 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 143,725 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 0.7% of Aberdeen Group plc's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.14% of Cisco Systems worth $347,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Legacy Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,100 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. now owns 17,361 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 5.4% during the first quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 3,433 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $212,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Rossmore Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 69,220 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,272,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.1% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 4,803 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, HSBC reissued a "hold" rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 688,409 shares in the company, valued at $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,731 shares of company stock valued at $5,021,519. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 4.5%

Cisco Systems stock traded down $3.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 40,854,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,656,640. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.85 and a 1 year high of $72.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock's fifty day moving average is $67.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.36.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.94%.

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.