Guardian Investment Management Sells 1,000 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Guardian Investment Management decreased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,200 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.2% of Guardian Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 48.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after acquiring an additional 23,194 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 64,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,448,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $28,685,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $240,335,000 after acquiring an additional 49,700 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.31 during trading on Thursday, hitting $48.10. 7,612,172 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,415,963. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.31. 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 12-month low of $45.56 and a 12-month high of $58.19. The firm has a market cap of $194.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% 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.