Welch & Forbes LLC Has $31.28 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 619,132 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,067 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $31,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FMR LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.2% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,717,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,682 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,181,327 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $947,262,000 after buying an additional 3,753,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,376,937 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $611,624,000 after acquiring an additional 405,699 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, hitting $47.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,161,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,119,422. The stock has a market cap of $190.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.70 and a 52 week high of $58.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.73.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Melius downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. 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 ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.