Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,902 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 225 shares during the period. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.2%

CSCO opened at $66.06 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $59.61 and its 200-day moving average is $60.34. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,564,439. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.