Hickory Point Bank & Trust Acquires New Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 13,243 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $784,000. Cisco Systems comprises about 0.7% of Hickory Point Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $255.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50-day moving average is $61.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems 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.