Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,350 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.8% of Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $1.04 on Friday, reaching $48.49. 16,418,052 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,337,124. The company has a market capitalization of $196.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month high of $58.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’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 value of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’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 value of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. 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 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.