Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Purchases 933,859 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 130.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,652,111 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 933,859 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $97,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pflug Koory LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

CSCO opened at $59.55 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $236.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.38.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. 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 report on Tuesday, April 8th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 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.