Vest Financial LLC Acquires 48,272 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 663,381 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 48,272 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $39,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $62.27 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $63.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $248.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 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 for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. UBS Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company 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.