Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas Sells 9,528 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas decreased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 211,236 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 9,528 shares during the quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $12,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 14,538 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 39,963 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,366,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271 shares in the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 203,159 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,027,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 80,543 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,768,000 after acquiring an additional 9,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikulski Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $203,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the company’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 value of $4,964,318.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This represents a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $62.23 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.03. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $62.31. The company has a market cap of $247.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

About Cisco Systems

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.