MCF Advisors LLC Acquires 4,271 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 25,542 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,271 shares during the quarter. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $61.03 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $61.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.19, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CSCO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.