John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Reduces Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 358,678 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,188 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises about 2.7% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 59,756 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,019,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Hyman Charles D raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Hyman Charles D now owns 70,727 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,573,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC now owns 8,970 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Boyer National Bank grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 8,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CSCO. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.47.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $1,213,859.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 725,363 shares in the company, valued at $33,439,234.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $1,213,859.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 725,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,439,234.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.42, for a total value of $34,610.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,352,210.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,106 shares of company stock worth $1,908,923 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.49 on Thursday, reaching $46.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,741,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,592,980. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.60. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.95 and a 1 year high of $58.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $188.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 21.88% and a return on equity of 30.82%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 53.87%.

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.