Beaton Management Co. Inc. Lowers Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Beaton Management Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,380 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Beaton Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter worth $840,538,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after buying an additional 4,843,146 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after buying an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. Natixis boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 438.4% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 4,924,988 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $245,806,000 after buying an additional 4,010,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $691,678,000 after buying an additional 2,906,357 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,085.52. This represents a 6.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total value of $416,229.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,821,929.52. The trade was a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,924 shares of company stock worth $1,798,131. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $57.46 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $59.38. The firm has a market cap of $229.31 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. HSBC upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. New Street Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.42.

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.