Forsta AP Fonden Lowers Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden has reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.3%, selling 22,600 shares and maintaining ownership of 963,600 shares valued at approximately $59.46 million.
• Analysts showed strong support for Cisco, with several firms raising their price targets, including Rosenblatt Securities increasing it from $63 to $74 and Wells Fargo raising from $72 to $75.
• Cisco declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.3%, with a payout ratio of 66.94% based on recent earnings.

Forsta AP Fonden cut its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 963,600 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 22,600 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $59,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. NBW Capital LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth approximately $200,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 29,260 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,599,510 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $468,971,000 after purchasing an additional 778,095 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,439 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 2,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Advisory Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. Silver Oak Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,252 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $262,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total transaction of $952,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 131,676 shares in the company, valued at $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $1.89 on Friday, hitting $71.79. 31,389,613 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,692,797. The stock has a market capitalization of $284.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.91. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $67.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.04. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $72.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.55.

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.