Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Acquires 1,484 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,210 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,484 shares during the quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth $45,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $49.77 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.94. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 2.25 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were 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 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 link. In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.42.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.