Private Trust Co. NA Lowers Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Private Trust Co. NA cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,867 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,916 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $253.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.66.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio 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.