Lipe & Dalton Decreases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Lipe & Dalton trimmed its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,359 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Lipe & Dalton’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.1 %

CSCO stock opened at $63.98 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.65 and a 200 day moving average of $56.15.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

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.