Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 1,072,485 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $63,491,000. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 0.8% of Freestone Grove Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $560,722,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,796,505,000 after buying an additional 4,832,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 143.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,986,627 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $295,208,000 after buying an additional 2,936,567 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $57.73 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $59.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.26. The company has a market capitalization of $229.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 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.