Hancock Whitney Corp Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Hancock Whitney Corp lowered its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,204 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 9,530 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after buying an additional 216,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.99. The company had a trading volume of 3,350,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,174,076. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $59.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.29. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.05.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.