Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 72,817 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 23.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 242,099 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 72,817 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.6% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $14,332,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $62.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $63.25. The company has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CSCO. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.94.

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.