First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Has $11.47 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 193,805 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,617 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 2.3% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 88,046 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,212,000 after buying an additional 12,247 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 195.7% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 1,366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Sapient Capital LLC now owns 24,776 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 77.0% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 4,589 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 1,997 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,137 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $62.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $250.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.71 and its 200-day moving average is $55.10. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $63.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Company 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.