Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Trims Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 220,212 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,389 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $13,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pflug Koory LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CSCO. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

CSCO opened at $63.94 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.44. The company has a market cap of $254.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.