ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing Acquires 1,621 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 12,451 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the quarter. ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 175,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,336,000 after purchasing an additional 19,800 shares during the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 74.7% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,326 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,160,000 after buying an additional 41,625 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,812 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,651,000 after buying an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,879,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,028,000 after acquiring an additional 34,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 105,069 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,592,000 after acquiring an additional 4,759 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.47.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

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

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.