Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Decreases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,057 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,583 shares during the quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,786,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $59.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $237.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $61.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.63. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.