Farmers Trust Co. Cuts Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Farmers Trust Co. cut its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 167,764 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,030 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 1.9% of Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.05 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.07. The company has a market cap of $249.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,616 shares of company stock valued at $2,640,095. Corporate 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.