Howard Financial Services LTD. Purchases 1,318 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,162 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,318 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 775,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,847,000 after purchasing an additional 288,775 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after acquiring an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7 %

CSCO opened at $60.23 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $60.95. The company has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

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.