Steph & Co. Has $667,000 Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Steph & Co. lessened its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,204 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 659 shares during the quarter. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 48.1% during the third quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after purchasing an additional 23,194 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 64,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,448,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,685,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $240,335,000 after buying an additional 49,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,734,000 after buying an additional 1,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Melius lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $47.79. The stock had a trading volume of 13,999,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,574,100. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month high of $58.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.32. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 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 company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.