Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 104,295 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 1.0% of Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 73,439,747 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,672,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,345,954 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,069,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,717 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.8% during 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. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $2,528,939,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.7% during 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. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Melius lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,658,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $48.94 and its 200-day moving average is $50.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $193.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

Cisco Systems 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.