Johnson Financial Group Inc. Has $7.47 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 123,242 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,783 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $560,722,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Cisco Systems by 143.2% during 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 during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 50.3% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,627,956 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $392,375,000 after acquiring an additional 2,219,311 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $56.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last three months. Company 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.