Atwood & Palmer Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Atwood & Palmer Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 521,206 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,743 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 2.2% of Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Atwood & Palmer Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $32,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,796,505,000 after purchasing an additional 4,832,813 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,159,099,000 after buying an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,741,597,000 after buying an additional 681,555 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.2%

CSCO stock opened at $65.90 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $260.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.78, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.