SFE Investment Counsel Boosts Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

SFE Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,935 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,590 shares during the quarter. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 13,401 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sax Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the third quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $48.12. 7,778,682 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,415,963. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $194.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

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.