Patten & Patten Inc. TN Sells 5,796 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 173,678 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,796 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 59,365 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 11,247 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $599,000 after acquiring an additional 1,086 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 2,652,863 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $141,186,000 after purchasing an additional 238,210 shares during the period. Finally, RIA Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $835,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.50 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $240.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $61.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.