Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,665 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 395 shares during the period. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $60.46 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.62. 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 stock has a market cap of $240.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. 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 dividend yield of 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

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.