Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 114,742 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 2.0% of Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $6,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pflug Koory LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $257.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

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.