Access Financial Services Inc. Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Access Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 16,294 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $823,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the second quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 13,401 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 14,831 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Cassia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $49.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $49.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.93. The company has a market capitalization of $202.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.42%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.42.

Cisco Systems 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.