Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54,530 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 475 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the period. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $528,000. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $226,000. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 33,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,786,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Balentine LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 121.7% during the 3rd quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 11,153 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 6,123 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $63.96 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $254.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.20. 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.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.