Covestor Ltd Decreases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Covestor Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 33.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,605 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,823 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Pflug Koory LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.6 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $56.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $61.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.98. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. 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 announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems 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.