HTLF Bank Invests $6.86 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

HTLF Bank acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 135,692 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,855,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3,500.0% in the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $48.24. The company had a trading volume of 4,502,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,290,289. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CSCO. Bank of America raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Melius lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.03.

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.