Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $128.19 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lessened its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,165,440 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 63,761 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $128,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after buying an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 87.9% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $294,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.0 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.48 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.06. 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. The company has a market cap of $252.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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.