Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Benin Management CORP

Benin Management CORP trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,066 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.6% of Benin Management CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Benin Management CORP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $62.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $62.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

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.