Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Buffington Mohr McNeal

Buffington Mohr McNeal cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,159 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 389 shares during the period. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,519,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,835,509,000 after acquiring an additional 59,466,550 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,028,781,000. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,943,593,000 after purchasing an additional 9,160,347 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 83.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,544,909 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $752,554,000 after purchasing an additional 6,621,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,879,450 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,664,544,000 after purchasing an additional 4,061,022 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.03.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $47.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $194.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.32. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

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.